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EXTRACTS 


CHORDAUS  LETTERS. 


COMPRISING  THE  CHOICEST  SELECTIONS  FROM  THE  SERIES  OF  ARTICLES  ENTITLED 

"EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS,"  WHICH  HAVE  BEEN  APPEARING 

FOR  THE  PAST  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  COLUMNS  OF 

THE  AMERICAN  MACHINIST. 


WITH  STEEL  PORTRAIT  OF  THE  AUTHOR;  ALSO,  ORIGINAL 
ILL USTRA  TIONS  B  V  CHAS.   J.   TA  YLOR. 


PREFACE   BY    THE   AUTHOR. 


NRW   AND   ENLARGED  EDITION,  WITH    ADDITIONAL   PLATES. 


T  W  E 


NEW  YORK 

McGRAW-HILL   BOOK   CO. 
1909. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1880,  by 

AMERICAN  MACHINIST  PUBLISHING  Co., 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington, 


PREFACE. 


The  letters  to  the  Editor  of  the  AMERICAN  MACHINIST. 
from  which  he  has  made  so  many  extracts  under  the  title  of 
"  Extracts  from  Chordal's  Letters,"  were  written  with  pleasure 
to  the  author.  They  were  without  any  continued  thought  on 
any  one  subject,  being  intended  as  the  presentation  of  the 
topic,  rather  than  the  thought. 

With  such  intentions,  it  made  little  difference  which  side 
of  a  question  was  taken,  or  that  an  opposite  side  was  taken 
in  a  succeeding  letter. 

There  is  but  little  need  of  consistency,  where  there  is  no 
tenacity  of  view. 

A  pleasure  has  also  followed  the  writing  of  these  letters.  It 
has  often  come  to  the  author's  knowledge,  that  they  were 
read  by  people  who,  as  a  rule,  never  read  anything.  It  is  not 
known  that  this  proves  merit  in  the  letters,  but  there  is  a 
pleasure  in  knowing  that  one  has  in  the  smallest  way,  or  in 
any  way,  been  instrumental  in  getting  anybody  into  the 
habit  of  reading  anything. 

There  is  plenty  of  shop  in  these  letters;  good  shop  and  bad 

.  shop ;  in  fact,  they  are  shop  letters,  written  for  shop  men,  by  a 

shop  man,  who  has  as  much  interest  in  the  people  who  go  into 

the  shops,  as  in  the  marvelous  products  which  come  out  of 

the  shops. 

As  if  there  were  not  enough  of  the  mechanic  in  these  let- 
ters, it  seems  a  pity  to  miss  the  chance,  in  a  preface,  to  express 
the  view  that  we  live  in  a  peculiar  land,  under  a  peculiar  form 
of  government,  surrounded  by  peculiar  social  conditions, 

259664 


2  PREFACE. 

In  other  lands,  the  well-being  of  all  depends  on  the  wisdom 
of  the  few  who  rule.  In  our  land,  the  well-being  of  all  de- 
pends on  the  wisdom  of  the  mass,  who  select  their  rulers.  In 
other  lands,  the  ignorance  of  the  mass  will  insure  the  stability 
of  the  existing  civic  form. 

In  our  land,  the  ignorance  of  the  mass  will  insure  the  total 
destruction  of  the  existing  civic  form. 

The  shop  men  form  a  large  proportion  of  our  civic  mass. 
They  must  be  more  than  workmen;  they  must  be  citizens. 
They  must  have  more  than  skill ;  they  must  have  education. 

Education  and  wise  citizenship  cost  money.  The  mechanic 
of  the  Republic  must  be  better  paid  than  the  mechanic  of  the 
Monarchy. 

Our  mechanics  are  wiser  citizens  than  are  the  mechanics  of 
any  other  land,  and  they  are  better  paid  than  in  other  lands. 

The  Republic  owes  it  to  its  mechanics,  that  it  pay  the  hire 
of  good  citizens;  and  the  mechanic  owes  it  to  the  Republic, 
that  he  make  himself  worthy  of  a  citizen's  hire,  as  well  as  the 

workman's  hire. 

JAMES  W.  SEE. 
HAMILTON,  OHIO. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Mechanics  Who  Succeed  and  Those  Who  Fail.— Reasons  Why.— What 
to  do  With  Money  Saved  ----...  ._g 

CHAPTER  II. 
Sackett  and  Wycoff  in  Missouri. — Saw  Mill  Emergencies. — Devising 

Make-Shifts. — Stealing  Men  and  Being  Stolen  16 

CHAPTER  111. 

How  the  Panic  Struck  Pete  &  Cady.— A  Yankee  Contractor  in  the 
Shop  .,.--.--..«..-  25 

C.HAPTER  IV. 
Hunter's  Troubles  with  Foremen. — Sackett's  Experience  36 

CHAPTER  V. 

How  Far  Should  Purchasers'  wishes  Influence  Manufacturers  ? — What 
to  do  with  Ode  Patterns  -  -  -  -  ••  '  -  .  .-  -  43 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Mrs.  Toodles  Runs  a  Machine  Shop. — Comparative  Cost  of  Small 
Tools. — A  Machine  Screw  Missionary.— How  a  Grindstone  was 
Made  to  Pay  ...---...-  51 

CHAPTER  VII. 

History  of  Two  Jours. — Wycoff's  Shop  Photographed. — Longevity  of 
Shops  •  -  -  -  ..  .....56 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ye  Heartsick  Tramping  Jour.— How  to  Get  Up  in  the  World.— Keep- 
ing Mum  about  Wages. — High  Wages  vs.  High  First  Cost  of 
Product.— What  Constitutes  a  Good  Workman  -  -  -  6; 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Extension  of  Shops. — Developing  Into  a  Stock  Company. — A  Time- 
Keeping  Machine. — Hunter's  Foundry  Accounts. — Ownership  of 
Patterns 72 

CHAPTER  X. 

Altering  Details  to  Suit  Customers. — Journal  Boxes  and  How  to  Place 
Them, — Fear  of  Advertising  Somebody  -  •  -  -  '79 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Emery  Wheels  in  the  Shop.— An  Emery-Wheel  Man  Wanted.— 
Charley  as  the  Champion  Oiler. — A  Mechanical  Time-Keeper  86 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Shop  Nomenclature. —  Sackett's  Planer  Arrangement. —  Milling 
Machines  and  Yankee  "Trappery." — A  Core  Device  for 
Foundries  ......  .  .  _  95 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Taking  Things  on  Trial. —  Starting  New  Shops  and  Starting 
New  Tools. — Shop  Ablutions 100 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Shops  in  the  Sky. — Value  of  Testimonials. — Location  of  Facto- 
ries.— Selling  Agencies  -  108 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Tells  How  Dix  and  Chordal  Established  Standard  Sizes  in 
Wycoffs  Shop  ---------  118 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Outwitting  the  Almanac. — Lighting  Shops       ....     124 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Lightning  Machinist.  —His  Lazy  Neighbor. — The  Soldier  on 
Duty. — Giving  Satisfaction  to  Purchasers, -•-Order  in  Shops  135 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Chordal's  Boy  Joe.— What  Books  Shall  Machinists  Read?        -     143 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Traveled  Machinist,— Fair  Play  for  Apprentices.— Bright 
and  Black  Finish -  -  -153 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Sackett's  Theories  of  Wages  and  Finance. — Systems  of  Gauges. 
—  Newton's  Casting  Room. — Who  Shall  Clean  Castings?  — 
Country  Moulders  .._-----  160 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Journals  and  Bearings. — The  Younger  Sackett  in  Wycoffs  Shop  172 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Mr.  Huber's  New  Button  Set.— Poor  Dan  Takes  the  Floor      -     187 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Turning  Shafting  on  the  Hotchkiss  Plan. — A  Simon  Pure  Ma- 
chine Shop  -  ."•>'•.;.»  -  .  »  -  -  196 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Geography  in  Machine  Building. — Getting  Ready  for  Business. — Two 

Cases  in  Point        ----------      203 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
Working  for  Nothing. — How  Chordal  Got  Ugly. — Sixteen  Glasses  of 

Beer. — Money  Saved  on  Mandrels        ------        210 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Finding  One's  Vocation.— How  Bob  Did  It.— Pattern  Making  in  Coun- 
try Shops. — Devices  Born  Too  Soon  -  -  222 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Coarse-Grained  Foremen. — The  Chronic  Mistaker. — The  Blunderer. — 
•     The  Anxious  Man.— The  Man  Who  Knows.— The  Mullet-Head.— 
Cliques  in  the  Shop.— Benches  for  the  North  Shop        -  229 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Procrastination  in  Shops. — Ingraham's  Opening  Day. — Making  Re- 
pairs.— System  and  Organization. — Sick  Lathes,  and  How  to  Cure 
Them. — Short-winded  Planers. — A  Point  in  Sackett's  System  -  236 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Paint  on  Machinery. — Functional  Machines. — Shafting  and  Hangers. — 
A  New  Wrinkle  in  Shafting.— A  New  Tool  Wanted  -  -  249 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
Elasticity  of  Workmen.— How   Chordal   Got  Bounced.— A  Glorious 

Mechanical  Tramp. — Resurrecting  Shops         -  258 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Successful  Things  that  Won't  Do. — Screwing-on  versus  Casting-on. — 
The  Ten- Year-Old  Method  of  Polishing.— Migrating  Westward  -  265 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Settling  Mechanical  Disputes. — Advantages  of  Having  no  Foundry. — 
Mechanical  Quixotism. — Forges  and  Shelves  for  the  North  Shop. 
— The  Steam  Engine  Indicator.  -  -  -  274 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Old  Castings  in  the  Shop. — How  New  Tools  are  Suggested. — How 
They  Ought  To  Be.— Combination  Machines  282 

CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

Arranging  Machine  Shop  Floors. — Methods  of  Finishing  Work. — 
Our  Artist  Sketches  a  Common  Boiler  Front  _  -  -  292 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Sackett's  Experience  with  a  Titled  Engineer.— Personal  Identity  of 
Bennett,  Sackett  and  Wycoff. — Shop  Drawings  and  Symbolism. — 
Tramping  Jours, — Starting  New  Shops. — Chordal  as  a  Pilgrim  -  302 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

The  Men  who  Design  Mills  and  Shops. — Characteristics  of  Pro- 
fessional and  Non-Professional  Men. — Architects  who  Fail  in 
Designing  Industrial  Works. — Inconveniences  in  Machine 
Shops. — The  Usual  Experience  in  Building  and  Extending 
Them  -  -  -  321 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

The  Acquisition  of  Knowledge. — Experience  of  the  Country  Bank- 
er's Son  in  a  Machine  Shop  -  -  ---_-_  328 

CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

Shapes  and  Styles  of  Chimneys.  —  Mistakes'in  Building  Chimneys. 
— How  the  Ladies  Set  O.ut  to  Improve  a  Dirty  City.  —  Mr. 
Sinton's  Pride  in  his  Smoke  Consumer  -  336 

CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

Mr.  Baker  Builds  a  Mill  with  Doors  and  a  Lean-to. — A  Reformed 
Consumptive  Persuades  him  to  Invest  in  a  Hyphen. — How 
Things  Turned  Out  -  -  345 

CHAPTER    XL. 

Mr.  Marling  the  Moulder.  — His  Industrial  and  Social  Habits. — 
His  Efforts  to  Make  his  Co-workers  Miserable. — How  they 
Appreciated  his  Efforts  ---------  354 

CHAPTER    XLI. 

Looking  for  a  Coal  Vase  with  Trunnions. — The  Confusion  Among 
Catalogues. — A  Hardware  Clerk's  System. — Bennett's  System 
of  Keeping  Catalogues. — Chordal's  Own  System  -  361 

CHAPTER    XLII. 

Altering  the  Form  of  a  Mechanical  Product  to  Suit  Customers. — 
Some  Opinions  and  Experiences. — How  the  Public  School 
Principals  liked  the  Ink. — How  Machine-Shop  Principals 
may  Take  a  Hint  ----- 370 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Personal  History  of  a  Young  Machinist       -       -       -    .  -       -       -     375 

CHAPTER   XLIV. 
Different  Kinds  of  Foremen -       -       -       -     385 

CHAPTER   XLV. 
A  Shop  with  Servants  for  the  Workmen     -     -      •      *       -      -     395 


FULL  PAGE  ILLUSTRATIONS, 


Frontispiece.     Steel  Portrait  of  the  Author. 

The  Negro  Engineer  bores  out  the  Cylinder  with  a  Grate  Bar,          -        17 
"  There  was  a  Yankee  Contractor  in  Pete  &  Cady's  Shop,"  31 

"  Excuse  Me,  Gentlemen, — got  to  Shrink  this  Crank  on,"    -  -     61 

Mechanical  Time-keeper  in  Sackett's  Shop,       -----         89 

"  Never  a  Day  Passed  but  Something  Came  Tumbling  Down,"     -      -     109 
The  .Lightning  Machinist,         -  -         -         -        -        .         -        133 

"  Mind  You,  I  am  Going  to  Make  an  Example  of  You,"        -      •" .—  -  161 
"Then  Poor  Dan  took  the  Floor,"       -------       191 

14  Who  should  Come  with  our  Beer  but  the  same  Chap  who  had  asked 

for  a  Job,"      -----------      215 

4 'Ingraham  Superintended  and  Smiled  Acknowledgments,"       -        -      239 
"  I  Saw  a  Ten-year-old  Nigger-boy  finishing  Flat  Irons  on  an  Emery 

Wheel," 269 

"I  wish  you  would  Send  an  Artist  *^*  to  Sketch  a  common  Boiler 

Front,"        -        -        -        -        -    '    -        -        .  -        -         297 

"  I  seek  Far  and  Wide  for  the  Man  Who  can  Measure  me  for  a 

Shop,"     --------------     323 

"  Mr.  Sinton  is  Very  Proud  of  his  Device,  and  has  almost  Par- 
alyzed his  Forefinger,"  -  --------  341 

"  McCann  Informs  Baker  that  he  is  Running  on  Forty  Pounds 

of  Coal  to  the  Barrel  of  Flour," 351 

"  Mr.  Marling  Takes  an  Inventory — a  Trowel,  Two  Slicks,  and 

Two  Ratty  Suits  of  Clothes,"  -  -  -----  357 

"  Bennett's  Office — Indexing  Chordal  under  his  Proper  Number, 

and  Shoving  him  into  a  Pigeon  Hole  Marked  C,"  -  -  367 

"  He  Hears  the  Foreman  Talking  '  German,'  and  it  Makes  him 

Sick," 379 

"  John  Paul  on  the  Ladder,"          -       -       -       -       -       -       -       -     387 

"  The  Servants  of  the  Machinist,"        -.--.--     393 


Extracts  from  Chordal's  Letters. 


CHAPTER    I. 

MECHANICS   WHO    SUCCEED    AND    THOSE    WHO   FAIL. — REA- 
SONS  WHY. — WHAT   TO   DO    WITH   MONEY    SAVED. 

*  *  *  *  There  are  a  lot  of  mechanics  who 
manage  to  get  into  every  shop  in  the  land  who 
judge  of  possibilities  entirely  by  their  own  weak 
accomplishments.  They  are  the  ones  who  do  the 
grumbling.  Their  weak  minds  never  understand  the 
circumstances  around  them,  and  they  foolishly  and 
blindly  give  utterance  to  the  stereotyped  growl: 
"There's  no  show  for  a  mechanic."  It  is  the  miser- 
able and  contemptible  example  of  such  men  that 
keeps  boys  with  stuff  in  them  out  of  the  shop.  They 
sagely  tell  the  inquiring  youth  not  to  go  into  a 
shop,  that  there  is  no  decent  show  in  the  world,  that 
they  have  been  there  and  know.  Now  these  men 
lie.  They  never  have  been  there ;  they  don't  know, 
and  there  is  a  show.  The  smart  mechanic  of  to-day 
has  before  him  a  possibility  of  prosperity,  of  useful- 
ness, of  social  position,  of  home  comfort  and  general 
respect,  such  as  the  lords  of  earlier  centuries,  with 
armed  retainers,  with  no  forks,  and  with  dogs  under 
the  table,  never  dared  to  dream  of. 

No  mechanic  in  th}s  country  dares  lift  his  head 
and  say  his  children  must  do  without  education,  and 
go  to  work  at  twelve  years  of  age.  No  mechanic  in 
this  country,  when  he  squats  in  a  town,  is  compelled 


10       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

to  hunt  up  a  dirty  hut  to  live  in,  and  pay  a  premium 
on  it  because  it  fronts  on  a  sloppy  alley. 

The  mechanic  in  this  country  cannot  lay  special 
claim  to  a  dirty  home  because  he  is  a  workingman. 
The  eggshells  thrown  into  his  slop-yard  may  be 
filthier  and  dirtier  than  those  of  his  decent  neighbor, 
but  it  is  not  the  result  of  his  being  a  mechanic,  for  his 
neighbor  is  one  also.  When  his  dirty  little  girl  goes 
to  school  in  the  morning,  her  dirty  stocking  may 
slouch  down  off  her  leg  and  upon  her  miserable  shoes, 
but  it  can't  be  explained  by  saying  that  these  stock- 
ings are  dirty  and  slouched  down  because  they  are  on 
the  legs  of  the  daughter  of  a  workingman.  The 
explanation  would  fail  for  the  simple  reason  that  two- 
thirds  of  this  girl's  trim  and  neat  companions  are 
daughters  of  workingmen.  The  comforts  of  life  and 
home  are  within  the  reach  of  all  American  working- 
men.  The  best  of  things  that  are  printed,  the  finest 
efforts  of  the  stage,  and  the  best  of  home  comforts,  the 
American  workingman  may  enjoy.  There  is  no  social 
bar  whatever  to  his  political  distinction.  He  may  choose 
whether  he  will  frequent  the  finest  homes  in  the  land 
or  the  lowest  pot  houses  If  he  is  a  low  blackguard, 
he  will  be  refused  decent  society,  not  because  he  is  a 
workingman,  but  because  he  is  a  blackguard.  Every 
prospect  for  the  future  which  this  wide  world  holds 
out  for  its  choicest  people,  this  land  holds  out  for  the 
smart  mechanic,  Yet  the  shiftless,  ignorant,  thought- 
less sluggard  sees  no  show  for  the  workingman  ! 
There  is  a  'show,  all  the  show,  but  maybe  none  for 
him.  The  sensible  mechanic  don't  gauge  his  own 
accomplishments  by  the  contemptible  lack  of  effort  of 
the  ignorant  howler. 

*  *  *  *  Is  there.no  show  for  machinists,  Mr. 
Editor  ?  Turn  to  the  last  pages  of  the  AMERICAN 
MACHINIST,  and  there  read  the  biography  of  the 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  II 

workingman.  The  advertising  pages  tell  the  tale. 
Sixty  men  put  their  names  on  those  pages.  They 
employ  five  thousand  workmen,  and  over  six  million 
dollars  of  capital. 

Were  these  sixty  men  born  with  these  millions  in 
their  pockets  ?  Did  they  fall  heir  to  the  cash  and  the 
shops  at  an  early  age  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  Look  here  : 
At  the  age  of  eighteen,  over  forty  of  these  men  were 
working  in  shops,  drilling  set  screw  holes  in  pulleys, 
cutting  bolts,  chipping  new  holes  in  old  boilers,  con- 
triving ways  and  means  to  get  old  broken  studs  out 
of  old  cylinders,  forging  square  keys  out  of  round 
iron,  butt-welding  erroneous  connecting  rods,  gouging 
out  core  boxes,  gluing  up  segments,  spitting  white 
pine  dust,  cutting  up  old  boilers,  building  up  new 
boilers,  putting  in  new  rivets,  cutting  out  old  rivets, 
bedding  floor  moulds,  ramming  copes,  filing  cores, 
and  doing  everything  one  man  does  for  another  man's 
money.  They  were  not  preparing  themselves  to  take 
charge  of  probated  fortunes.  They  were  working. 
Of  these  forty  men,  thirty  did  not,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  have  fifty  dollars  they  could  call  their  own. 
Of  the  five  thousand  men  they  now  employ,  three 
thousand  were  then  their  shopmates. 

Among  these  sixty  men  can  be  found  the  names  of 
some  of  the  highest  social  powers  in  this  land  of  ours. 
High  toned  society  made  no  exception  among  the  three 
thousand  and  sixty.  Society  never  said  to  one  of  the 
Sixty:  "  We  find  a  birth  mark  on  you  ;  twenty  years 
from  now  come  to  us."  Society  never  said  anything. 
The  sixty  said.  Fortune  never  said:  "I  see  a  mark, 
come  to  me."  Fortune  never  said  anything.  The  sixty 
said.  The  five  thousand  in  the  shop  never  said  to  the 
sixty:  "  We  see  a  mark  on  you;  shoot  ahead  arid  we 
will  lag  and  work  for  you."  The  five  thousand  never 
said  anything.  The  sixty  said.  Providence  didn't 


12       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 

chalk  out  a  future  for  the  sixty.  The  sixty  did  their 
own  chalking  and  left  the  five  thousand  to  lean  on 
Providence, 

Civil  law  never  said,  "  sixty  of  you  chaps  must  be 
smart  and  prudent — thrifty — and  five  thousand  of  you 
must  starve  in  pot  houses  after  work  is  over."  Law 
don't  push  men  forward.  The  sixty  did  the  pushing. 

A  vile  blackguard  blows  the  fumes  of  cheap  whiskey 
in  my  face  and  tells  me  there  is  no  future  for  a  me- 
chanic. Oh  no!  of  course  not.  If  a  man  is  foolish 
enough  to  learn  the  machine  trade,  of  course  he  can 
never  hope  to  call  a  pane  of  glass  or  a  rose  bush  his 
own  !  Of  course,  he  can  never  hope  to  take  a  daily 
paper,  nor  to  own  a  copy  of  Comstock's  philosophy, 
nor  twenty  dollars  worth  of  general  books,  nor  to  be 
called  on  to  rule  in  public  councils,  nor  to  head  a 
public  charity,  nor  to  see  his  children  well  educated  ! 

There's  no  show  of  course'  If  a  man  ever  touches  a 
chipping  hammer,  a  wise  people  will  never  call  on  him 
to  govern  the  state  If  he  ever  splits  a  rail,  good-bye 
to  all  future  prospects, 

*  *  *  *  Mr.  Editor  if  you  know  of  a  bright  six- 
teen-years-old  boy,  smart  and  independent,  with  snap, 
pride,  poverty,  good  health,  and  a  common  school 
education,  and  with  a  hankering  after  the  mechanical 
arts,  tell  him  to  go  into  a  machine  shop  and  learn  the 
trade.  You  can  appear  disinterested,  but  some  day  he 
will  be  your  advertiser. 

Tell  him,  when  he  earns  money,  to  hunt  up  some  way 
to  spend  it  all  before  the  next  installment  is  due  ;  tell 
him  to  learn  only  one  way  of  doing  things,  and  to  fail 
when  that  way  won't  fit ;  tell  him  he  is  to  get  rich,  not 
by  the  amount  saved,  but  by  the  amount  of  wages 
received  ;  tell  him  never  to  look  into  the  human  nature 
of  his  foremen  and  fellow  workmen;  tell  him  always 
to  hunt  up  the  slums  to  live  in  when  he  moves  to  a  new 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  13 

place;  tell  him  to  cultivate  the  habit  of  playing  seven- 
up  in  a  saloon  two  hours  every  night;  tell  him  to  buy 
his  groceries  by  the  quarter's  worth;  tell  him  when  he 
is  dissatisfied  with  his  wages,  not  to  go  to  the  office  by 
himself  on  his  own  merits,  but  to  find  a  dozen  other 
fellows,  eight  of  whom  already  get  more  than  they  are 
worth,  and  march  into  the  office  and  demand  a  raise 
or  threaten  a  strike;  tell  him  never  to  hesitate  to  spend 
six  months'  wages  to  get  a  three  months'  job  at  ten 
cents  a  'day  more;  tell  him  to  associate  with  machinists 
only;  tell  him  never  to  pay  six  dollars  to  take  his  folks 
to  the  opera,  and  never  to  miss  a  low  performance;  tell 
him  never  to  read  anything  relating  to  the  past,  present 
or  future;  tell  him  never  to  clean  up  before  he  goes 
home,  and  never  to  allow  his  home  and  family  to  be  as 
neat  as  a  millionaire's;  tell  him  to  take  his  children  out 
of  school  as  soon  as  some  one  will  buy  them  at  a 
dollar  a  week;  tell  him  all  these  things,  and  see  that 
he  lives  up  to  them — and  he  will  never  be  your  adver- 
tiser. He  will  curse  you  to  his  dying  day,  and  will  tell 
you  a  workingman  has  no  show  in  this  country. 

*  *  *  *  Norman,  one  of  your  correspondents, 
states  that  a  late  letter  of  mine  provoked  discussion. 
This  is  gratifying  and  pleasant.  Were  I  a  high  and 
mighty  power,  able  to  suggest  and  dictate  plans,  I  could 
do  much  good  indeed;  but,  as  it  is,  the  utmost  I  can 
expect  of  myself  is  the  ability  to  turn  thought  in  some 
certain  direction.  Thought  resulting  in  discussion, 
should  result  in  settled  plans.  I  was  in  hopes  that  the 
very  empty  termination  of  my  former  remarks  would 
lead  to  suggestions  as  to  failures  or  successes.  Men 
don't  like  to  talk  about  such  things  much,  and  men  like 
Norman,  who  will  tell  of  a  failure,  are  rare. 

If  a  man  is  of  a  prudent  character,  he  will  act  like 
all  prudent  men,  and  will  succeed  and  fail  as  all  pru- 
dent men  do.  No  bank  is  sure;  but  the  best  business 


14  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

men  deposit  in  them.  If  a  wealthy  man  loses  all  by  a 
bank,  he  suffers  indeed,  for  his  living  capital  was  there. 
He  must  change  his  course  of  life,  and  commence  his 
life's  work  anew.  The  workman's  money  in  bank  is 
strictly  a  surplus,  and  its  total  loss  need  not  affect  his 
life  to-day  or  to-morrow  one  jot  or  tittle.  But  it  won't 
do  for  a  person,  who  at  middle  age  commences  to  save, 
to  lose  it  all.  It  is  apt  to  stop  the  thing.  Men  who 
have  never  saved,  and  who  propose  to  save,  should  have 
a  sure  thing  on  it.  Savings  banks  are  not  a  sure  thing; 
in  no  state  is  a  depositor  guarded  absolutely  against 
discouraging  losses.  Besides  that,  there  is  nothing 
compulsory  about  deposits.  Building  associations  are, 
in  many  ways,  superior,  especially  in  some  states.  The 
deposits  are  compulsory,  and  the  securities  excellent, 
though  not  absolute.  Loans  are  dangerous,  when 
effected  by  inexperienced  men.  Profit  on  savings  is  no 
object  to  the  class  I  speak  of.  The  saving  itself  is  the 
main  thing.  Real  estate,  bought  on  small  notes,  is  a 
good  investment,  if  the  land  is  not  a  swindle.  Owning 
a  lot,  whether  there  is  a  house  on  it  or  not,  is  not  a  tie 
to  any  workman.  If  he  loses  his  job,  he  can  go  else- 
where and  work;  his  real  estate  don't  need  to  hold 
him;  he  can  go,  just  as  though  he  didn't  have  any.  If 
he  can  sell  it,  or  can't  sell  it,  he  ought  not  to  sell  it;  if 
it  can't  be  rented,  don't  rent  it;  if  taxes  must  be  paid 
on  idle  property,  pay  them.  To  the  class  I  speak  of, 
the  privilege  of  owning  something  is  worth  paying  for. 
The  idea  that  John  Smith  can't  work  in  Pennsylvania, 
because  he  bought  a  lot  in  Michigan,  is  a  shallow  idea. 
If  the  lot  is  in  a  good  place,  it  don't  make  any  differ- 
ence where  the  job  is;  the  further  off  the  better.  He 
won't  be  so  apt  to  sell  the  lot. 

Stock  in  corporations  is  dangerous  to  the  class  I 
speak  of.  Such  investments  need  control.  The 
owner  has  no  chance  and  no  capability.  Government 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  15 

bonds  are  the  very  best  investment ;  they  are  as  safe 
as  can  be  ;  the  trouble  is  in  the  size  of  them.  The 
ten  dollar  certificates  were  exactly  the  thing,  but  they 
were  soon  used  up.  If  Mr.  Sherman  would  arrange 
for  an  issue  of  several  millions  of  dollars,  in  similar 
certificates,  without  interest,  convertible  into  interest- 
bearing  bonds,  in  sums  of  five  hundred  dollars,  the 
workman  would  hail  the  day.  Money  invested  in 
such  things  is  idle,  of  course,  but  idle  money  beats 
no  money  at  all.  If  such  certificates  should  be 
issued,  manufacturers  would  see  that  their  men  got 
them.  To  a  machinist  who  has  a  chronic  case 
of  squander  on  hand,  and  who  wants  to  get 
well,  I  can  suggest  a  plan  as  sure  and  certain  as 
the  stability  of  this  Government.  It  is  this :  Every 
pay-day  go  to  the  post-office  and  get  a  money  order 
for  your  extra  cash.  Don't  try  to  make  the  figure 
even,  but  for  any  amount,  seven,  nine,  eleven,  or 
seventeen  dollars — anything  you  can  ;  don't  dare  to 
make  the  order  larger.  Get  the  money  on  pay-day, 
sure.  Have  the  order  made  payable  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  United  States,  and  take  it  home.*  This  is  safe  ; 
no  one  can  get  any  good  out  of  these  orders,  if  they 
are  stolen;  if  burnt  up  or  lost,  you  can  get  duplicates. 
Do  this  every  pay-day;  never  miss  a  single  one  under 
any  circumstances,  and  when  you  get  a  hundred 
dollars'  worth,  take  them  to  any  bank,  or  to  the  man 
you  work  for,  and  buy  a  hundred-dollar  Government 
bond.  Have  that  bond  registered  by  all  means. 

*  It  is  best  not  to  hold  money-orders  longer  than  one  year,  as  after 
that  time  their  collection  might  be  attended  with  some  inconvenience. 


l6       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER   II. 

SACKETT     AND     WYCOFF    IN    MISSOURI. SAW     MILL   EMER- 
GENCIES.  DEVISING  MAKE-SHIFTS/ — STEALING  MEN  AND 

BEING  STOLEN. 

It  was  west  of  the  Mississippi  that  I  first  met  Sack- 
ett  and  Wycoff,  who  have  now  returned  to  the  East. 
They  both  started  small  shops  in  Missouri,  in  the  same 
town,  just  as  the  war  came  on.  They  found  they  had 
made  a  mistake,  so  they  returned  before  they  had  run 
a  month.  Siegel  occupied  the  town,  needed  grape- 
shot,  and,  finding  a  hundred  St.  Louis  moulders  in  his 
command,  he  "pressed"  the  two  foundries  and  set  the 
men  at  work.  The  cupolas  and  moulding  floors 
had  been  designed  for  heats  of  one  ton  ;  not  a 
dozen  flasks  had  been  made:  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  to  a  railroad  or  river,  and  no  pig  iron  or  coal  on 
hand.  Candle  and  soap  boxes  from  the  subsistence 
department  were  used  for  flasks;  cook-stoves,  flat-irons, 
and  sash-weights  impressed  for  scraps;  and  charcoal 
used  for  fuel,  The  moulders  worked  all  over  the  build- 
ings and  yards,  and  the  cupolas  ran  continuously.  It 
took  six  men  to  carry  up  charcoal  for  each  one.  The 
result  was  tons  and  tons  of  grape-shot.  Then  came  a 
battle,  a  defeat,  and  a  retreat.  The  grape-shot  had  not 
been  cleaned  or  broken  from  the  gates,  so  they  were 
all  thrown  into  wells  and  covered  up,  to  keep  them  from 
the  enemy.  The  enemy,  however,  thought  it  cheaper 
to  dig  up  these  grape-shot  than  to  make  new  ones. 
They  were  thus  well-fixed  for  grape,  but  had  no  iron 
for  horse-shoes,  so  they  commenced  on  the  saw-mills 
in  thirty  counties,  and  used  up  all  wrought-iron  parts 
on  hundreds  of  engines;  connecting-rods,  piston-rods, 
mainshafts,  bolts,  nuts,  and  cam-rods — all  went  to  heeJ 
the  rebellious  army  mule. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  19 

The  war  ended  one  day  and  Sackett  and  Wyckoff 
went  back  and  found  their  tools  wrecked.  They  refitted 
and  began  to  reap  a  rich  harvest.  All  the  aforesaid 
engines  came  in  for  repairs;  one  hundren  dollars  for  a 
single  cut  through  a  cylinder,  and  other  work  in  pro- 
portion. The  Lehigh  coal  cost  eighty  dollars  a  ton, 
for  it  had  to  be  hauled  over  a  hundred  miles,  but  they 
got  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a  pound  for  the  heaviest 
castings.  I  need  not  say  they  made  money,  but  the 
game  was  up  when  a  railroad  came  and  brought  com- 
petition within  reach.  They  wisely  sold  out  and  came 
East  again. 

*  *  *  *  Among  the  saw  mills  in  this  region 
could  be  found  many  triumphs  of  unlettered  genius. 
There  were  few  real  mechanics  in  these  mills;  shops 
hundreds  of  miles  away  by  wagon  road  ;  and  acci- 
dents always  happening.  The  stop-valve  on  the 
engine  gives  out,  but  the  mill  must  run  while  a 
new  one  is  coming.  A  brake  is  put  under  the  fly- 
wheel to  slow  the  engine,  and  a  stick  of  cord-wood 
thrown  under  the  connecting  rod  stops  it.  Rod 
boxes  and  cross  head  "brasses"  of  oak  were  com- 
mon. A  slide-valve  of  black-walnut  was  found  once 
in  a  while.  Oil  gives  out  and  water  is  used  till  a 
hog  is  killed.  The  saw  gets  sprung,  and  the  factory 
wants  thirty  dollars  to  exercise  the  saw  maker's  magic 
art  upon  it,  and  the  mill  would  stand  still  three  weeks. 
The  backwoods  sawyer  straightens  it  in  an  hour,  with- 
out knowing  just  how  he  did  it.  The  cylinder  gets 
cut,  and  the  negro  engineer  bores  it  out  with  a  grate- 
bar.  I  saw  him  doing  it.  Flange  joints  are  made  with 
white  sand  mixed  with  the  white  of  an  egg,  and  the 
main  belt  is  spliced  with  bark.  A  boiler  wanted  new 
fire-box  and  tubes.  The  negro  engineer  undertook  the 
job.  He  never  saw  the  inside  of  a  boiler  shop,  and 
never  saw  a  piece  of  machinery  putside  that  mill,  but 


20       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

the  owner  had  sent  for  iron,  tubes  and  rivets,  and  the 
man  had  gone  to  work  in  his  own  way.  When  I  hap 
pened  i  that  section,  he  was  boring  the  tube  sheets. 
His  special  tools  were  a  four-by-four  scantling  and  a 
five-eighths  bolt.  All  these  mills  have  a  ratchet  drill. 
He  "  d  off  and  drilled  the  centei  holes,  put  the  bolt 
thr<  ugh  the  hole  and  scantling,  drove  a  cutter  through 
a  mortise  in  the  scantling,  and  using  the  scantling  as  a 
lever,  walked  round  and  cut  the  holes,  feeding  by  driv- 
ing on  the  cutter.  I  was  interested  enough  to  caliper 
some  holes  already  done,  and  found  them  as  good  as 
the  ordinary  boiler  shop  job.  I  am  satisfied  the  fellow 
finished  the  thing  up  in  good  shape.  An  educated  or 
skilled  mechanic  would  never  have  attempted  to  do 
this  work  in  the  woods. 

*  *     *     *     Some  men  seem  to  be  deficient  entirely 
in  power  for  devising  make-shifts,  or  in  adaptability 
to  novel  circumstances. 

1  was  told  of  a  well-educated  engineer  who  found 
himself  fifty  miles  from  port  with  a  broken  vacuum 
gauge.  He  showed  utter  helplessness,  and  proposed 
immediate  return.  His  assistant  was  a  shovel  engi- 
neer. He  saw  nothing  amiss  in  a  broken  gauge,  or 
in  the  absence  of  one.  He  traded  places  with  his 
chief,  and  made  the  trip  by  sense  of  feeling.  When 
his  condenser  felt  too  hot,  he  gave  her  more  injection. 

We  are  told  of  a  party  of  royal  astronomers  who 
went  into  the  northern  regions  to  make  observations. 
The  expedition  was  an  important  one,  but  the  weather 
was  so  severe  that  the  mercury  forming  the  artificial 
horizon  was  frozen,  thus  rendering  their  instruments 
useless.  They  gave  it  up  and  came  home  without  the 
idea  of  a  lamp  under  the  mercury  having  occurred  to 
them. 

*  *     *     *     The  business  boom  has  brought  to  our 
ears  the  old  charge  of  stealing  men. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.        21 

..» 

As  near  as  I  can  remember,  I  have  heard  of  no  case, 
during  the  last  few  years,  of  emissaries  slipping  around 
and  seducing  men  away  from  one  shop  tc^'work  in 
another  for  better  pay.  An  owner  has  been  thankful 
if  he  could  keep  his  front  door  open  and  the  li&e  shaft 
turning  around,  and  the  men  have  been  thankf-'  iAor  a 
job  at  any  pay.  The  dull  times  lasted  so  long  :that 
tools  were  allowed  to  deteriorate  and  run  down  gene- 
rally, systems  flagged,  capital  was  withdrawn,  and 
manufacturing  facilities  were,  in  many  cases,  seriously 
crippled. 

During  these  times,  good  workmen  in  many  cases 
became  disgusted  with  a  trade  which  paid  such 
terribly  low  wages.  They  quit  the  business  and  went 
into  other  things,  sometimes  ,  more  profitable,  some- 
times less,  but  they  at  least  succeeded  in  changing  the 
general  current  of  their  lives.  Some  shops  had  such 
a  poor  lot  of  men  left  in  them  that  keen-witted  boys 
would  not  go  among  them  to  learn  the  trade.  The 
less  cultivated  boys  could  not  get  into  the  shops,  and 
no  .boy  with  wit  or  no  wit  could  learn  much  from  the 
lot  of  men  which  was  left.  Such  circumstances  were 
exceptional,  of  course,  but  there  was  a  tendency  that 
way  all  over.  Many  good  men  fell  out  of  the  ranks, 
and  few  good  boys  went  into  the  shops. 

Now  we  find  that  work  is  plenty  in  many  sections, 
and  sharp  workmen  hard  to  get.  There  has  always 
been  some  attention  paid  to  keeping  good  men. 
Many  owners  in  the  dullest  times  followed  the  plan 
of  always  letting  the  poorest  workmen  go,  and  even 
replacing  them  with  better  ones.  Other  shops,  on  the 
contrary,  kept  the  poorest  men  because  they  were 
cheaper. 

*  *  *  *  Now  we  hear  some  poor,  over-crowded 
owner,  with  time  contracts  on  hand,  with  a  shop  run 
down  at  the  heel,  and  with  all  the  men  he  can  get, 


22  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

saying,   "  So  and   So  steals  my  men  away  from   me. 
He's  a  low  down,  contemptible,  dirty  cur,"  etc.,  etc. 

*  *     *     *      Now,    honestly,    Mr.    Editor,    do    you 
think  Mr.  So  and   So  is  a  cur  ?     How  does  he  steal 
men  ?     By  offering  them  more  pay.     Auction  is  theft 
according   to  the  morals  of  some.      Now  I,  for  one, 
like  to  see  this  stealing  going  on.     It's  awfully  incon- 
venient sometimes,  but  it's  a  mutual  privilege,  and  out 
of  the  rivalry  the  poor  machinist  manages  to  get  his 
full  value.     A  machinist  is  entitled  to  all  the  favorable 
fluctuation  in  the  labor  market,  and  when  the  bidding 
is  spirited  all  may  laugh,  for  times  are  good. 

*  *     *     *     j  have  had   men  stolen  from   me,  and 
called  the  stealer  a  thief.     I  have  stolen   men  from 
other  folks  and  have  been  called  a  thief.     I  have  been 
stolen  myself,  and  always  had  the  most  respect  for  the 
biggest  thief.     The  way  to  get  men  is  to  pay  theii 
value,  the  way  to  hold  them  is  to  pay  their  value,  and 
the  man  gets  and  holds  his  place  by  making  himself 
valuable. 

There  are  employers  who  look  upon  mechanics  as  a 
class  to  be  bargained  with  like  business  men,  who 
consider  a  mechanic  as  having  the  business  ability  and 
sharpness  to  look  out  for  his  own  interest.  There  are 
other  employers  who  feel  and  know  that  workingmen 
are  not  business  men,  and  cannot  do  well  by  them- 
selves, that  they  deal  in  force  rather  than  in  business 
power,  and  that  they  can  be  imposed  on  with  little 
effort.  They  would  blush  to  take  advantage  of  these 
circumstances,  as  they  would  if  tempted  to  bruise  the 
weak.  This  latter  class  are  not  exceptional  at  all. 
They  are  about  equal  with  the  first  class,  and  they  set 
the  wages  of  the  world  with  a  justice  which  is  cer- 
tainly admirable  under  the  circumstances. 

*  *     *     *     Tf  a  man  is  filling  a  situation  he  brings 
down  the  wrath  of  his  employer  if  he  listens  to  better 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  23 

offers.  I  claim  that  when  a  man  sells  his  services  for 
the  time  being  to  another  man,  it  is  his  duty  to  listen 
carefully  to  every  thing  which  indicates  to  him  his 
present  or  prospective  value.  A  man  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  himself  who  does  not  say  every  day:  "I 
expect  to  be  more  valuable  some  day;"  and  the 
employer  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself  who  will 
dicker  with  a  man  for  his  present  services  and  then 
assume  that  the  man  should  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  every 
offer.  *  *  *  Warwick  has  a  superintendent  at 
eighteen  hundred  a  year.  Both  were  satisfied.  The 
superintendent  Byron  didn't  know  his  real  value, 
and  Warwick  didn't  care.  But  Mr.  Timmerman 
comes  along.  He  don't  care  anything  for  Byron, 
but  he  wants  a  good  superintendent;  he  wants  Byron, 
and  knows  his  value.  He  don't  propose  to  pay  any 
more  than  he  can  help,  but  he  does  propose  to  pay 
somewhere  between  eighteen  hundred  dollars  and  the 
real  value  of  the  man,  so  he  goes  to  Warwick's  place 
and  offers  Byron  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  a  year  or 
a  third  interest  in  his  place.  Byron  is  not  on  a  con- 
tract. If  he  was  he  would  not  violate  it,  and  if  he  was, 
Timmerman  would  not  be  a  party  to  the  violation. 
Byron  goes  to  Warwick  and  states  the  case.  Warwick 
talks  ugly  right  away,  and  accuses  Timmerman  of  dis- 
honorable conduct  in  coming  into  his  mill  on  such  an 
errand,  and  accuses  Byron  of  dishonorable  conduct 
in  not  kicking  him  right  out.  The  only  questionable 
feature  I  can  see  in  the  play  is  Warwick's  conduct. 

*  *  *  *  I  claim  that  when  one  man  goes  to 
work  for  another  for  the  time  being,  he  reserves  the 
nght  to  constantly  exert  himself  to  do  better,  and  also 
the  right  to  invite  better  offers  right  on  the  premises. 
The  idea  of  presuming  that  paying  a  man  for  present 
services  gives  the  right  to  blindfold  him  and  stop  up 
his  ears  forever  ! 


24 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 


*  *  *  *  Into  this  question  of  course  comes  the 
policy  of  leaving  a  permanent  place  for  a  temporary 
place  at  a  higher  figure.  It  is  supposed  that  common 
sense  will  cover  such  cases,  and  any  man  will  under- 
stand that  once  in  a  while  somebody  will  offer  him 
more  than  his  value,  on  account  of  pressing  necessities 
of  service.  Wise  men  never  bite  at  such  things.  A 
little  judgment  will  tell  if  a  figure  is  too  high  to  be 
permanent. 


—  fcCLD  TiV.Ei  MAC H  i^l  3||Cr 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  25 


CHAPTER   III. 

HOW    THE    PANIC    STRUCK    PETE  &  CADY. — A  YANKEE 
CONTRACTOR    IN    THE    SHOP. 

*  *  *  *  pete  &  Cady  have  a  shop  in  a  town  of 
twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  Years  ago  their  busi- 
ness was  general.  They  did  saw  and  grist-mill  work; 
would  contract  for  the  iron  work  for  a  jail;  receive 
orders  for  engines  of  ten  to  sixty  horse  power;  kept  a 
big  stock  of  sash  weights  on  hand;  could  point  to 
many  nice  jobs  of  store-front  work;  had  a  fair  line  of 
patterns  for  repairing  everything  used  in  their  section; 
and  they  had  made  money. 

They  had  about  fifty  thousand  dollars  invested,  and 
worked  about  ninety  men.  They  did  good  work,  and 
got  good  prices.  Pete  was  a  machinist,  and  a  good 
one  Cady  was  a  millwright,  and  knew  lots  of  things. 
They  were  good  men,  in  every  sense  of  the  word  ; 
square  and  honest,  no  lazy  bones  in  their  bodies,  and 
with  business  faculties  superior  to  the  average.  You 
will  readily  see  that  they  owned  a  machine  shop.  They 
would  build  an  engine,  and  it  would  be  a  good  one. 
It  would  take  them  a  good  while  to  build  one,  but, 
when  done,  there  was  a  margin. 

These  folks  were  not  manufacturers,  and,  more  than 
that,  they  had  never  seen  any  manufacturing  done  in 
their  lives.  Their  business  was  local,  with  a  slight 
tinge  of  reputation  abroad  in  connection  with  their 
number  four  circular  saw  mill.  Their  work  came  to 
them,  and  they  figured  on  it  and  did  it,  if  they  got  the 
order.  If  they  got  a  whiff  of  a  possible  job,  Cady 
would  put  on  his  good  clothes,  and  go,  say,  fifty  miles, 
and  labor  with  the  party.  They  did  work  only  when 
they  had  the  order.  They  had  made  money  and  had 
a  surplus.  Pete  was  foreman  in  the  machine  shop  in 


26  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

particular,  and  superintendent  of  the  concern  in 
general.  Cady  was  in  the  pattern  shop,  when  not 
engaged  outside.  The  shop  was  located  in  the  Middle 
States,  and  was  booming  when  the  panic  struck  the 
trade. 

*  *     *     *     The  panic  made  things  blue  around  the 
establishment  of  Pete  &  Cady — few  men,  little  work, 
contemptible  wages,  and  the  shop  losing  money.    Like 
a  thousand  other  men   during  the  panic,  they  held  a 
council,  and  decided  that  they  were  engaged  in  a  line 
of  trade  greatly  overcrowded.     They  must   hunt  up 
something  to  make,  which  would  keep  them  busy,  and 
make  it  pay.     They  looked  around,  and  struck  on  the 
last  thing  for  a  panic-stricken  shop  to  engage  in,  to 
wit :  small  semi-portable  steam  engines. 

What  led  them  to  it,  no  man  knows.  Pete  said,  in 
gloomy  council,  "  We  have  all  the  tools  required  in 
this  little  engine  business  ;  we  know  all  about  steam 
engines  ;  we  can  make  them  up  without  orders  and  sell 
from  stock — lots  of  these  things  sold." 

The  fact  is,  these  boys  were  hatching  up  a  manufac- 
turing conspiracy.  They  thought  that  manufacturing- 
consisted  in  simply  engaging  in  a  line  which  would 
permit  a  stock  to  be  carried  to  fill  orders  from,  as 
distinguished  from  a  line  of  business  dependent  on 
special  orders  to  fill.  They  looked  no  deeper;  they 
didn't  know  it  was  any  deeper,  or  they  wouldn't  have 
gone  in. 

*  *     *     *     After  the  conception,  and  a  long  period 
of  incubation,  there   stood   upon    the   shop   floor   an 
elegant  little  eight-horse  power  upright  engine,  just 
hatched.     It  was  a  machine  that  the  purchaser  would 
be  satisfied  with,  and  one  that  would  be  a  credit  to  the 
builders. 

*  *     *     *     They   pitched    in   and    built   twenty, 
following  the  same  plan  of  "  manufacture  "  that  they 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.       27 

did  wi.th  a  single  engine.  They  knew  just  what  the 
engine  cost;  they  advertised  far  and  wide,  giving  a 
price,  leaving  but  little  margin.  A  month  of  advertis- 
ing and  not  a  sale — not  even  a  real  earnest  inquiry; 
nothing  but  postal  cards  from  triflers. 

This  worried  the  boys,  for  they  knew  such  engines 
were  being  sold  by  hundreds.  Some  friend  told  them 
their  price  was  too  high,  and  scared  inquirers  away. 
They  answered  that  their  engine  was  something  extra 
good.  Friend  said,  the  distant  engine  needer  didn't 
get  to  see  the  engine;  he  only  saw  the  price. 

*  *     *     *     They  changed    tactics,  and    advertised 
larger   than  ever,  but  omitted   any  mention  of  price. 
This  brought  heavy  mails,  and,  in  response,  they  quoted 
a  price  ten  per  cent,  off  list.     They  made  a  few  sales 
out  of  all   proportion  to  the  mails;  they  cut  another 
ten  percent.,  and  sales  slightly  increased.      Still  the 
business  amounted  to  nothing,  and  there  was  nothing 
in  it  at  twenty  off. 

*  *     *     *     The  twenty  engines  were  finally  gotten 
rid  of,  and  the  question  arose  as  to  the  desirability  of 
building  a  new  lot.     Cady  had  charge  of  the  disposal- 
end   of    the    new   scheme,  and    had   got    thoroughly 
worked  up.      He   insisted   on    the   engines  being  cut 
down  in  merit,  till  they  could  stand  simply  even  with 
the  others  in  the  markets.    "  If  others  use  boilers  too 
small  for  the  engine,  we  must  do  the  same,"  said  he, 
"and  we  must  overhaul  the  whole  thing  on  the  same 
plan  of  economical  design." 

"  Next,"  said  he,  "  we  must  have  the  work  done  by 
the  piece;  that's  the  way  other  makers  do.  Then  we 
must  rig  up  for  the  work.  These  things  taken  to- 
gether must  justify  another  twenty  per  cent,  cut,  and 
then  everything  will  be  lovely.  There  are  lots  of  these 
engines  sold  and  if  we  can  only  get  our  share  of  the 
trade,  we  don't  need  any  other  work."  Pete  coincided 


28  EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS. 

in  the  scheme,  and  things  were  pushed.  The  engines 
were  re-designed;  what  seemed  like  marvelously  con- 
venient jigs,  etc.,  were  got  out;  the  men  were  put  on 
a  piece-work  price,  which  drew  the  sweat,  and  a  new 
lot  of  twenty  was  begun. 

*  *  *  *  The  castings  were  out,  the  boiler  iron 
was  on  hand,  and  a  piece-work  price  put  on  every 
piece,  so  that  it  was  known  just  what  these  engines 
would  cost.  Cady  looked  at  the  figures — looked 
solemn;  said  it  wouldn't  do  at  all.  Even  at  this 
price,  their  cost  was  still  slightly  above  the  selling 
price  of  some  competitors.  Said  Pete  must  be 
handling  things  wrong,  or  he  could  get  the  thing 
down  lower.  Pete  flared  up,  and  said  the  thing 
couldn't  be  got  any  lower.  The  material  would  not  be 
much  cheaper,  if  they  stole  it.  Said  he  knew  all 
about  engine  work,  and  knew  there  were  only  two 
ways  of  cheapening  it.  Either  leave  off  some  of  the 
work,  or  cut  down  the  men's  pay.  Said  the  engine 
wasn't  more  than  half  made  now,  and  that  the  men 
would  burn  the  shop,  if  they  were  cut  another  cent. 
They  were  working  like  laborers,  and  getting  about 
half  the  pay  they  had  two  years  before.  The  married 
men  had  come  down  to  corn  bread,  and  the  single  men 
had  taken  to  cheap,  low  boarding  houses.  The  best 
men  had  left  the  shop,  and  some  had  quit  the  trade. 
It  cost  five  hundred  and  ten  dollars  to  put  an  engine 
in  the  wareroom,  and  others  were  selling  the  same 
engine  for  five  hundred.  He  defied  any  man  to  go 
into  the  shop  and  get  that  ten  dollars  off  the  cost  with- 
out a  riot. 

*****  These  earnest  co-workers  were  at  their 
wit's  ends.  Their  machine  lives  had  been  pleasant. 
Nice,  well-paid  men,  and  living  profits  on  work  had 
been  their  experience.  Now,  there  was  no  profit,  and 
there  was  a  constant,  bitter  antagonism  between  shop 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.  29 

and  men.  It  all  came  from  these  engines,  this  u  man- 
ufacturing scheme."  Pete  suggested,  as  they  had  not 
yet  fairly  started  in  the  business,  that  they  drop  it  and 
work  on  these  engines  as  usual,  building  only  when 
they  got  a  decent  order.  This  meant  to  discharge  half 
the  men,  but  it  was  decided  on  to  take  place  at  the" 
end  of  the  month. 

*  *     *     *     Next  week  a  man  walked  into  Pete   & 
Cady's  office.     He  didn't  have  a  roll  of  blue  overalls, 
with  a  hammer,  a  square,   and  two   pairs  of  calipers 
wrapped  up  in  it,  under  his  arm.     He   had    on  nice 
boots,  and  nice  clothes,  and  a  white  shirt,  which  would 
do  credit  to  a  lobbyist.     He  wore  a  plug   hat.       He 
looked  smart  and  starchy,  and  had  the   manner  and 
approach  of  a  business  man.     He  was  not  timid  or  im- 
pulsive.    This  clean  looking  chap  actually  asked  Pete 
&  Cady  if  they  needed  any  machinists;  and   Pete   & 
Cady  told  this  clean  looking  chap  "  No."     Then  con- 
versation  commenced.       The   chap   proved    to    be   a 
Yankee,  and  the  Yankeest  kind  of  a  Yank  at  that.    He 
told  where  he  had   been   engaged  down  East;  worked 
in  such  a  shop;  foreman  in   such  a  shop;  contractor  in 
such  a  shop.     Said  he  had   come  West  to  stay.     Had 
sold  his  house,  and  had  brought  his  money  with  him. 

Pete  smiled.  The  machinist  had  brought  his  money 
with  him.  Pete  wanted  to  ask  how  freights  were,  but 
didn't. 

*  *     *     *     Cady  had  heard  a  new  word  drop  from 
this  Yankee.     What  did  he  mean  by  saying  he  was  a 
"contractor"  in  Summit's  shop?     Yankee    explained 
what  a  contractor  was.     He  takes    the  job   from  the 
owners  of  the  shop  for  so  much  money,  and  goes  into 
the  shop  and  sees  it  executed. 

*  *     *     *     Pete,  smiling,  remarked   that  it  would 
be  a  good  joke  on  the  little  engine  business  to  try  and 
get  a  contractor  s  profit  out  of  it,  when  the  men  and 


30  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

the   shop  were   both   starving,  in    trying   to  sell    the 
engines  at  cost. 

*  *     *     *     The  Yankee's    name  was  Doolittle,  and 
he  was  business.     In  an  hour  he  had  pumped  the  firm 
dry;  found  out  their  history  and  present  troubles  with 
little  engines,  and,  at  the  end    of  two  hours,  he   had 
their  permission  to  stand  around   the  shop  a  week,  to 
see  how  they  did  things. 

*  *     *     *     At    the    end    of    the    week,    Doolittle 
tackled  the  firm.     Said  he  had  leased  a  house  for  a 
year,  got  his  wife  and  babies  fixed,  had  twelve  thou- 
sand dollars  in  bonds  in  the  Rhino  National  Bank,  and 
now  he  wanted  to  go  to  work.     The  firm  smiled.     Doo- 
little opened  up  in  this  way:    "  These  engines  cost  you 
five  hundred  and  ten  dollars.     They  are  a  bad  job,  and 
you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  them.     I  never  associated 
with  steam    engines,  but  I  know  all  about   machine 
work.     You  must  sell  these  engines  for  five  hundred  to 
sell  any.     If  you  can  sell  for   four-fifty,  you  can  prob- 
ably sell  all  you  want  to,  according  to  your  talk.     To 
sell  at  four-fifty,  they  must  not  cost  over  four  hundred. 
Your  men  are  making  about  a  dollar  a  day  at  hard 
work.     You  don't  know  what  to    do.     Well,  I  do.     If 
you  will  furnish   stock    at   the  prices  you   have  men- 
tioned, I  will  contract  to  deliver  you  a  hundred  engines 
at  four  hundred  dollars  each,  better  built,  in  every  way, 
than  those  you  build;  and  I  will  give  your  own  Rhino 
bank  as  security  for  the   fulfillment  of  the   contract. 
I'll  go  at  it  right  away,  and  furnish  engines  as  fast  as 
you  can  sell." 

*  *     *     *     The   firm    dropped    its   jaw  in   amaze- 
ment  at   this    man's  cheek.      Cady,    who  was    of   an 
elastic  nature,  moved  to  the  new  conditions,  unfolded. 
He   worked    upon    the   stolid    Pete,    until    the   latter 
changed  his  views,  and  a  lawyer  drew  the  contracts 
inside  of  three  hours. 


There  was  a  Yankee  Contractor  inside  of  Pete  &•»  Cadfs  Shop. — Page  33. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS.  33 

*  *     *     *     There  was  a  Yankee  "contractor"  inside 
of  Pete  &  Cady's  shop. 

*  *     *     *     Notice  is  served  on   the  engine  gang, 
and    Doolittle   sails   in.      The  engine  work  is  in  his 
hands  ;   the  men  are  his.     He  pays  them — there  are 
twenty  men.     He  stops  every  man  of  them  and 'sets 
them  at  work  on  tools,  fixtures,  jigs,  etc.,  etc.,  and 
keeps  them  there  for  a  month. 

*  *     *     *     Now  he  picks  out  Walter  and  asks  him 
how  much  he  got  apiece  for  the  cross  heads.     Walter 
says:  "Four  dollars."      Doolittle  says:  -"You  must 
now  make  them  for  one  dollar."     Walter  squeals  and 
brings  out  his  time  book,  showing  that  he  only  made 
a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  day  at  four  dollars.     Doolittle 
dries  him  up  by  guaranteeing  him  a  rate  greater  than 
a  dollar  and  a  quarter.     Walter  goes  at  it,  and  makes 
two  dollars  a  day  without  hard  work.     Doolittle  goes 
through  every  piece,  and   cuts   the   price   down  and 
the  men's  earnings  up,  in  this  proportion,  all  through 
the  engine. 

*  *     *     *     pete  &  cady  soon  became  aware  of  the 
fact   that   their  engines  were  well    made   and    inter- 
changeable ;    that    they   were    enabled    to    enter   the 
market  and  sell  them  largely  at  a  profit  ;    that  every 
man  working  on  them  got  nearly  twice  the  pay  he  did 
under  the  old  plan  ;  and  that  this  starchy  Yankee  was 
making   money   out   of   his   suicidal   contract.      The 
whole  thing  looked  paradoxical. 

*  *     *     *     pete    &    Cady    were    happy    in    their 
mystery.     They  opened  out  into  new  lines  of  manu- 
facture, or  intended  to,  rather.     Doolittle  had  a  con- 
tract for  a  thousand  engines,  to  be  delivered  as  wanted, 
and  the  whole  thing  moved  swimmingly.     Neither  of 
the  firm  had  yet  solved  the  problem  of  "  what  was  the 
contractor's   office  ?"      They  wanted    Doolittle   to  go 
into  partnership.     He  wouldn't  do  it.     They  proposed 


34       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL/S  LETTERS. 

to  contract  a  thousand  corn  planters  'to  him.  He 
wouldn't  do  it.  Said  he  would  send  down  East  and 
get  them  a  contractor. 

*  *  *  *  Doolittle's  offer  to  send  for  another 
contractor  to  take  the  corn  planters  threw  light  on  the 
whole  question.  Cady  was  the  first  to  see  the  point. 
Pete  was  tied  to  the  training  of  his  art,  and  wasn't 
much  of  a  man  to  see  things.  Cady  said  :  "  Pete,  I 
see  it  all.  .  We  have  a  skilled  supervisor  over  twenty 
men.  He  is  a  superintendent  getting  big  pay.  We 
would  think  we  were  going  to  the  dogs,  if  we  paid  a 
full  superintendent  the  money,  as  salary,  which 
Doolittle  gets  as  profit.  When  you  attended  to  the 
engine  business,  you  spread  yourself  thinly  over  the 
whole  shop,  and  depended  on  the  wits  of  the  men  to 
execute  your  desires.  You  didn't  pay  the  men  for 
wit,  but  only  for  skill  and  force.  Doolittle  directs 
every  stroke  made  by  his  few  men.  He  furnishes  the 
talent,  and  asks  force  only  of  them. 

"  Every  man  gets  good  pay.  But  if  you  would  go 
out  in  the  shop  and  make  them  change  jobs,  they 
would  starve  ;  while  Doolittle  could  keep  them  there, 
and  raise  their  earnings  as  he  did  before.  He  knows 
what  conveniences  and  advantages  are.  You  spent 
a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  on  what  you  called  a  per- 
fect outfit  for  '  manufacturing '  engines.  Doolittle 
paid  twelve  hundred  dollars  out  of  his  own  pocket 
before  he  commenced  on  an  engine,  and  he  sent  East 
for  tools  that  you  acknowledged  you  never  had  heard 
of.  He  knows  how  to  help  a  man  in  his  work,  and  he 
charges  big  money  for  knowing  how.  I  have  been 
studying  how  we  could  kick  our  contract  over,  so  we 
could  pocket  Doolittle's  profit,  but  now  I  believe  that 
if  we  kick  the  contract  over  we  kick  the  profits  over 
too." 
*  *  *  *  Pete  &  Cady  now  have  five  contractors 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 


35 


in  their  shop  on  different  classes  of  work,  and  they  see 
these  contractors  making  more  money  than  the  shop  ; 
but  they  are  smart  enough  to  see  that  the  shop  and 
the  men  make  money,  too.  and  that  the  credit  is 
due  entirely  and  solely  to  the  contractors. 


36  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HUNTER'S    TROUBLES    WITH    FOREMEN. — SACKETT'S    EX- 
PERIENCE. 

Hunter's   foreman  has  left  him  ;    gone 
West  to  start  a  shop  of  his  own. 

Hunter  is  in  real  trouble  now,  and  regrets  keenly  net 
having  taken  my  advice,  given  five  years  ago,  to 
encourage  and  build  up  the  executive  qualities  of  a 
workman  when  they  appeared,  and  thus  be  at  all  times 
supplied  with  material  raised  in  and  familiar  with  the 
shop,  on  which  to  draw  in  cases  of  emergency. 

Personally,  I  question  the  policy  of  those  business 
men  who  make  their  business  dependent  entirely  upon 
their  own  presence. 

We  find  the  able  and  successful  dry  goods  man  buy- 
ing his  goods  to  the  best  advantage,  and  selling  them 
to  patrons  drawn  to  him  by  his  personal  qualities.  He 
watches  his  markets  keenly  and  takes  advantage  of 
every  opportunity  offering  chances  for  low  purchases. 
He  makes  his  regular  trips  to  his  source  of  supply,  and 
buys  promptly  by  mail  and  telegraph.  But  in  all  these 
operations  is  his  lieutenant  with  him  ?  Is  he  educating 
another  man  to  relieve  him  or  to  take  his  place  ?  If  he 
gets  sick  or  goes  to  Paris,  is  there  a  man  who  will  do 
his  work  as  well  as  himself  ?  If  there  is  such  a  man  in 
the  background,  our  merchant  is  a  wise  man  and  has 
a  business  which  will  allow  him  to  leave  it,  and  enjoy 
its  fruits  once  in  a  while.  The  average  machine-shop 
proprietor  generally  carries  his  business  in  his  head, 
and  for  some  reason,  or  lack  of  reason,  he  declines 
engrafting  his  qualities  of  success  upon  a  supernumer- 
ary who  might  often  be  his  real  salvation. 

The  really  prudent  proprietor  has  in  his  employ  a 
manflreflaring  for  every  important  position.  Out  of 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  37 

fifty  machinists,  about  two  can  always  be  found,  who, 
by  proper  encouragement,  can  fit  themselves  for  the 
higher  positions.  They  are  not  necessarily  the  best 
workmen;  in  fact,  good  workmen  seldom  make  good 
foremen  or  superintendents. 

A  man  with  the  mental  qualities  required  for  such 
positions  generally  finds  the  acquisition  of  an  art  dis- 
tasteful. It  is  not  always  to  a  man's  discredit  that  he 
is  not  a  good  workman.  There  are  rarer  qualities  than 
skill,  and  there  is  to-day,  dull  as  the  times  are,  a  demand 
for  mechanics — men  who  understand  human  nature  and 
the  quality  of  metals,  men  who  can  put  workmen  in 
good  places  where  they  can,  by  reason  of  adaptability, 
make  their  results  profitable  and  their  existence  pleas- 
ant. The  eternal  fitness  of  things  is  the  golden  key 
to  the  placing  of  men  in  the  shop.  A  good  foreman  is 
the  most  valuable  man  in  the  shop,  and  earns  his  pay, 
not  by  fooling  with  chipping  chisels  and  lathes,  but  by 
the  discretion  shown  in  parceling  put  his  work  among 
the  men. 

A  good  foreman  can  earn  his  pay  by  the  simple 
increase  in  productive  power  of  five  men,  and  he  does 
damage,  if  he  attempts  to  "  make  a  hand  "  himself. 

The  demand  to-day  is  for  foremen  who  can  secure 
a  maximum  of  perfection  and  economy  in  a  product. 
The  simple  or  complex  power  of  reducing  wages  and 
controlling  disaffected  men,  will  not  accomplish  these 
results.  To  my  knowledge,  many  of  the  most  profit- 
able shops  are  paying  the  highest  wages  to  the  men. 

Hunter  is  really  despondent,  and  gave  vent  yesterday 
to  more  philosophy  and  profanity  than  I  supposed  there 
was  in  him.  Sackett  went  over  with  me,  and  we  list- 
ened to  Hunter's  doleful  story.  He  said  to  Sackett: 
"  It's  all  well  enough  for  you  to  talk  about  what  you 
have  always  done  about  foremen,  but  what  consolation 
is  that  to  a  man  who  didn't  do  as  you  did  ? 


38       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

"  I  never  had  a  foreman  who  could  or  would  make  a 
foreman  for  me,  except  Lambert,  and  it  only  took  Steb- 
bins  a  month  to  undo  all  of  Lambert's  work.  Lambert 
did  get  some  men  into  shape  for  promotion,  but  Steb- 
bins  came,  and,  fearing  to  see  his  feathers  plucked,  put 
them  out  of  the  shop.  They  all  have  good  positions 
now,  and  are  beyond  my  reach." 

Sackett  said  he  would  send  him  a  good  man,  one  of 
his  own  raising,  and  warrant  the  quality.  This  put 
Hunter  in  good  spirits,  and  he  told  us  more  of  his 
experience. 

He  thinks  his  foreman  ought  to  be  called  his  tenman, 
because  he  has  had  two  a  year  for  the  last  five  years. 
Said  he  :  "I  honestly  think  a  foreman  ought  to  have 
full  control  of  his  part  of  the  machine,  but  somehow 
I  can't  let  go  my  grip.  You  know,  Chordal,  when  you 
told  me  to  send  for  DeLow.  Well,  he  came,  and  we 
quickly  settled  on  terms.  Then  he  wished  me  to  under- 
stand his  views,  as  he  called  them.  You  ought  to  have 
heard  them.  It  sounded  too  much  like  law  for  me  and 
my  government,  so  I  dissented,  and  he  said  that  was  all 
there  was  of  it.  He  wanted  supreme  control  in  the 
machine  shop,  and  insisted  on  my  passing  all  instruc- 
tions through  him.  He  may  have  been  right,  but  it 
was  too  strong  for  me. 

"Then  I  got  Walker.  He  was  simply  a  good  work- 
man, who  had  never  gotten  over  it.  He  had  no  dignity, 
and  fraternized  too  much  with  the  men.  He  became 
the  cause  of  clannish  jealousy,  and  made  the  shop  dis- 
agreeable, so  I  let  him  go. 

"  Then  I  got  Morris.  He  was  the  worst  man  I  ever 
saw,  and  Wycoff  told  me  he  was  the  best  man  in  the 
country.  He  substituted  tyranny  for  dignified  dis- 
cipline, had  no  good  judgment  as  to  real  economy,  and 
didn't  understand  his  men.  He  cut  down  wages  to 
curry  favor  with  me,  and  succeeded  in  raising  the  cost 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS  39 

of  my  work  past  all  reason.  My  cost  books  are  welV 
kept,  and  when  Morris  had  "  reduced  "  every  really 
cheap  man  out  of  the  shop,  and  got  it  full  of  men  who 
couldn't  get  work  elsewhere,  I  found  things  cost  more 
than  they  sold  for.  It's  hard  to  see  through  these 
things,  but  I  watched  the  thing  for  a  while  in  search 
of  information.  You  know  Cook,  who  ran  that  thirty- 
inch  lathe  ?  Well,  that  man  didn't  seem  to  amount  to 
Shucks.  He  was  a  good  workman,  and  I  knew  it,  but 
he  accomplished  nothing,  had  no  gumption  or  ambi- 
tion or  interest.  He  didn't  steal  time  or  use  fine  feeds 
or  slow  speeds,  but  he  seemed  indolently  indifferent 
to  everything. 

"  I  knew  he  was  doing  more  irksome  work,  than  if 
his  ambition  had  been  called  into  play.  He  knew  how 
to  run  a  lathe,  but  seemed  to  understand  that  he 
wasn't  paid  for  knowing  how,  but  simply  for  run- 
ning it. 

"  One  day  I  found  Morris  blackguarding  a  man  fear- 
fully, so  I  discharged  Morris  and  the  man  too;  Morris 
for  insulting  the  fellow,  and  the  fellow  for  not  resent- 
ing it.  I  despise  a  man  who  has  no  self-respect  to 
defend.  You  can't  make  the  whole  of  a  good 
machinist  out  of  half  of  a  man,  so  it  was  small  loss 
to  the  shop. 

"Then  I  got  Lambert  for  a  foreman.  I  had  just 
found  out  his  worth  when  he  died.  I  could  afford  to 
give  a  man  like  him  a  half  interest  in  the  shop  and  a 
salary  too,  and  would  make  money  by  it  every  day. 

"  He  knew  the  character  of  every  man  in  a  week, 
and  shipped  about  half  of  the  men,  keeping  only  those 
he  knew  to  be  rough  diamonds.  He  sent  one  man  to 
another  shop,  telling  him  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
earn  much  here,  as  there  was  no  work  suitable  for  him. 
Then  he  took  a  bolt-cutter  man  and  put  him  on  the 
best  planer  in  the  shop — just  where  he  belonged. 


40  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

"  The  man's  pride  received  a  hoist,  and  he  was 
giving  ten  times  as  much  for  his  money  as  he  was 
before.  Then  he  tackled  Cook,  for  he  had  seen  some- 
thing in  the  man.  He  saw  that  he  was,  under  the 
crust,  a  real  good  workman,  so  he  withdrew  rough 
work  from  his  lathe  and  raisel  his  pay.  Then  he  put 
him  on  the  best  lathe  in  the  shop,  and  gave  him  the 
best  work  and  raised  his  pay  again. 

"  Cook  was  now  fulfilling  his  mission.  He  seemed 
to  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  his  position  in  life, 
walked  alongside  of  me  on  the  street,  instead  of 
falling  about  two  inches  behind,  as  he  used  to  do. 
He  got  twenty  per  cent,  more  pay,  and  gave  three 
times,  as  much  value  in  work  as  he  did  under  Morris. 
He  wore  better  clothes,  kept  a  bank  account,  and  used 
his  brains  every  day,  for  he  had  learned  from  Lam- 
bert that  a  machine  shop  was  a  good  place  to  use 
brains  in. 

lt  Lambert  worked  just  such  changes  all  through  the 
shop,  and,  when  he  died,  I  was  paying  higher  wages 
and  getting  cheaper  work  than  anyone  else  in  my 
line. 

"  Then  I  got  Stebbins,  and  it  took  him  about  a 
month  to  knock  down  Lambert's  whole  structure. 
Then  I  got  Morgan.  He  was  neither  good,  bad,  nor 
indifferent,  and  the  only  evidence  of  his  having  been 
here  is  the  vacancy  he  leaves  behind  him." 

*  *  *  *  Sackett  gave  me  a  slight  insight  into 
his  plan  of  making  machinists  and  foremen  as  we 
walked  home: 

"When  I  started,  I  was  my  own  foreman.  I  kept  as 
many  apprentices  as  I  could  use,  because  I  could  make 
better  workmen  of  them  than  I  could  hire.  When  a 
town  boy  became  an  annoyance  around  the  shop  by  his 
intrusive  and  impertinent  interest  in  things,  I  spotted 
him  for  an  apprentice. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAl/S  LETTERS.       41 

"  Lambert  served  his  time  with  me,  and  was  one  of 
a  good  lot  of  boys.  I  notice  that  those  street  boys, 
who  have  to  be  kicked  out  of  shops,  are  always  good 
boys,  and  make  not  only  good  machinists  but  good 
mechanics.  Lambert  worried  me  considerably  before 
he  came  in  the  shop  for  good.  He  loafed  around,  and 
if  a  planer  was  idle,  he  would  deliberately  take  pos- 
session and  work  on  some  tinkering  job  he  had  on 
hand,  a  little  engine  or  some  such  nonsense.  Finally 
I  set  him  at  work  on  a  three  years'  apprenticeship.  I 
first  set  him  to  chipping  castings,  and  told  him  he 
could  drop  such  work  forever  the  minute  he  could  do 
it  well.  He  seemed  to  understand  my  plan,  and 
passed  through  the  bloody  ordeal  quickly.  Then  I 
put  him  on  a  bolt  cutter  with  the  same  understanding. 
He  soon  graduated,  took  a  rough  lathe,  then  a  better 
lathe,  then  a  vise,  then  a  floor.  He  always  did  the  most 
valuable  work  of  which  he  was  capable. 

"  This  was  my  regular  plan  in  the  shop,  and  secured 
for  every  man  his  proper  sphere  of  action,  and  I 
always  made  some  small  difference  in  the  pay,  so 
that  they  could  more  readily  appreciate  the  matter. 
I  let  the  boys  play  midshipman  and  take  charge  of  the 
ship  week  about.'  They  were  all  sensible,  proud, 
ambitious  boys,  and  I  never  had  any  complaint  from 
workmen  at  being  bossed  by  these  youngsters.  Many 
of  my  boys  now  have  high  places,  and  write  me 
frequently.  There  are  more  Irke  them  in  the  shop.  I 
can  leave  my  business  a  month,  or  my  foreman  can 
leave  me  forever,  and  it  will  not  interrupt  things  at  all. 

"I  work  on  the  artillery  plan,  and  train  number 
Four  to  number  Seven's  work,  so  that  firing  may  be 
continued  in  case  of  accidents." 

*  *  *  *  If  foremanship  can  be  a  profession, 
DeLow  was  a  professional  foreman.  He  is  dead  now, 
but  I  know  you  would  like  to  hear  something  of  his 


42  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

style,  if  you  are  interested  in  the  interior  management 
of  the  shop.  In  another  letter  I  will  tell  you  some- 
thing of  this  very  peculiar  man,  whose  memory  is 
revered  by  every  proprietor  or  workman  with  whom 
he  ever  came  in  contact. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.       43 


CHAPTER    V. 

HOW  FAR  SHOULD  PURCHASERS'  WISHES  INFLUENCE  MANU- 
FACTURERS ? WHAT    TO    DO  WITH   ODD  PATTERNS. 

*  *     *     *     How  far  should  the  opinions  or  desires 
of  a  purchaser  influence  the  manufacturer  ?     I  do  not 
refer  to  special  jobs  for  special  purposes,  but  to  those 
articles  which,  being  upon  a  manufacturer's  price  list, 
become  a  standard  with  him.     Is  it  wise  to  humor  the 
whim  of  every  buyer  by  changing  unimportant  details 
at  his  request  ? 

It  seems  to  me  that  customers  fight  shy  of  a  builder 
who  don't  seem  to  know  just  what  he  is  about,  and 
take  rather  to  those  autocrats,  who,  collecting  and  re- 
fining the  experience  of  many  buyers,  develop  that 
experience  into  form,  and  adhere  rigidly  to  details 
known  to  be  correct  and  adequate.  A  manufacturer 
with  little  experience  and  poor  judgment  can  never  be 
arbitrary,  and  a  weak  man  can  never  build  up  a  pro- 
duct to  a  standard.  The  unyielding  builder  must 
sometimes  see  a  desirable  customer  depart  in  a  heat, 
but  often  the  customer  will  return  after  many  days  and 
bow  with  respect  to  a  more  extensive  experience  and  a 
firmer  judgment. 

*  *     *     *     Here's  a  case  in  point.      Sackett  builds 
a  wood-working  machine,  and  has  sold  several  hundred 
of  them.     He  don't  build  any  other  wood  tool,  but  has 
made  this  a  success. 

Among  other  details,  this  machine  contains  a  cutter 
shaft  running  in  babbitt  boxes.  One  journal  is  grooved 
to  prevent  end-play,  as  is  commonly  done  with  such 
shafts.  He  cuts  the  grooves  in  the  journal.  Some 
makers  turn  them  upon  the  journal,  which  is  much 
more  expensive,  but  does  not  weaken  the  shaft. 

A  gear  shaft  in  the  machine  runs  in  a  long  sleeve 


44  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

bearing,  bored  in  the  main  frame.  The  other  day,  when 
I  was  in  Sackett's  shop,  he  showed  me  about  twenty 
letters  regarding  this  machine,  and  called  my  attention 
to  two  of  them.  One  party  wanted  the  collar  rings 
mentioned  to  project  from  the  journal,  instead  of  being 
cut  into  it.  The  other  party  asked  that  the  aforesaid 
gear-shaft  bearing  be  capped,  so  wear  could  be  taken 
up. 

Sackett  opened  up  with  :  "There's  two  good  cash 
orders,  which  I  won't  take.  I  won't  alter  those  things, 
for  that  shaft  business  would  be  a  useless  and  annoying 
concession,  and  that  gear  box  is  better  as  it  is,  a  matter 
which  I  kngvv  a  hundred  times  more  about  than  those 
men.  Its  my  business  to  know,  not  what  one  of  these 
men  thinks,  but  what  is  the  average  or  general  demand. 
My  self-interest  as  a  manufacturer  demands  that  I 
should  reduce  a  machine  to  its  mean  profitable  terms 
and  keep  it  so.  I  can't  afford  to  make  a  bad  machine. 
If  anything  is  really  wrong,  it  will  certainly  damage 
me  more  than  the  buyer,  and  I  should  at  once  demand 
the  return  of  the  job.  How  silly  I  would  be  to  listen 
to  every  suggestion  !  I  made  that  machine  a  success, 
the  purchasers  didn't. 

"I  didn't  guess  at  the  proportions  or  details  of  the 
thing,  for  I  am  no  designer,  but  I  had  it  done  by  a  man 
whose  vocation  and  business  is  to  study  the  wants  of 
users,  develop  them  into  an  average,  and  furnish  me 
with  the  scheme  and  drawing,  made  with  the  under- 
standing that  the  machines  were  to  be  not  only  good 
to  the  purchaser,  but  profitable  to  the  manufacturer. 

"  He  didn't  do  it  in  a  day,  but  put  details  side 
by  side,  and  considered  closely  the  relative  utility  and 
cost  of  each.  He  knew  what  he  was  about,  and  would 
not  have  made  grooves  instead  of  rings  without  reason. 

"Of  course  I  accepted  his  judgment,  but  that  was 
eight  years  ago,  and  I  have  watched  the  things  closely. 


EXTRACTS   FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.  45 

I  notice  all  these  little  suggestions  come  from  men  who 
intend  to  buy. 

"  Why  don't  those  who  have  the  machines  complain? 
Simply  because  there's  nothing  to  complain  about.  It's 
simply  a  notion  of  intending  purchasers.  I  know  by 
the  experience  of  six  hundred  uncomplaining  buyers, 
that  things  are  right. 

"That  bearing  has  never  in  eight  years  shown 
shake,  and  I  know  that  if  it  was  split  and  capped  it 
would  never  fit  just  right,  even  by  chance,  and  would 
wear  out  in  a  year. 

"  Why,  Chordal,  I  wish  it  wasn't  too  much  trouble 
to  get  you  out  the  letters  I  have  received  from  inquir- 
ers. If  I  listened  to  all,  I  would  not  be  able  to  make 
two  machines  alike;  in  fact,  I  would  have  no  machine 
that  I  could  call  my  own,  for  there  isn't  a  thing  that 
somebody  hasn't  struck.  That  machine  stands  on  its 
reputation.  I  have  no  patent  on  it,  and  competitors 
have  too  much  honor  to  steal  my  personal  thunder, 
but  would  bounce  my  legal  patent,  quick  as  thought, 
if  I  had  one,  and  they  could  find  a  hole  in  it. 

"  I  make  those  machines  good  and  all  alike,  and  a 
man  can  know  just  what  he's  going  to  get.  Why, 
there's  three  thousand  dollars  worth  of  special  tools 
out  in  the  shop,  rigged  up  to  make  the  machines 
uniformly  good  and  uniformly  cheap.  What  would 
become  of  my  jigs,  if  I  listened  to  Thomas,  Richard 
and  Henry?  I  lose  a  sale  once  in  awhile  by  being 
stubborn,  but  I  find  in  the  end  that  stubbornness  wins. 
I  won't  change  any  unimportant  detail  to  suit  a 
buyer's  fancy  on  anything  I  make.  If  I  find  some- 
thing is  really  wrong,  I  change  for  good;  but  I  don't 
jump  at  the  first  free  suggestion  made. 

"  Why,  I  went  up  to  Backgear  last  year  and  ordered 
a  drill  press  of  Coane.  I  came  the  same  game  on  him, 
which  my  patrons  try  on  me.  I  wanted  changes 


46       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

Coane  builds  tip-top  drill  presses,  and  I  wanted  noth- 
ing special,  but  I  wanted  little  changes  made  just  to 
suit  my  whims.  I  am  no  tool  builder,  and  Coane  would 
have  told  me  so,  if  he  had  done  his  duty  by  me,  but 
no — he's  one  of  those  men  who  want  to  please  cus- 
tomers. Now,  that  drill's  a  fraud,  and  its  just  as  I 
ordered  it.  I  wish  I  saw  some  good  ground  for  suing 
him.  He  ought  to  have  known  better  than  I  did,  and 
ought  to  have  insisted  on  doing  the  right  thing.  Just 
come  out  and  look  at  that  fine  machine,  '  altered  to 
suit  the  purchaser's  fancy  !' " 

*  *  *  *  I  interviewed  Wycoff  next  day.  He 
builds  portable  engines  : 

INTERVIEWER — Do  you  change  things,  if  purchaser 
says  to  ? 

WYCOFF — Every  day  in  the  week.  Wouldn't  sell 
anything  if  I  didn't.  Guess  a  man  knows  what  he 
wants.  There's  that  engine  over  there.  Making  it 
for  Pittman.  Same  as  usual,  only  he  wanted  that 
governor.  It  isn't  worth  five  cents,  but  that  isn't  my 
look  out,  and  he  wanted  the  valve  shortened  up, 
and  the  crank  pin  smaller,  to  reduce  friction,  as  he 
said,  and  the  bearings  turned  half  an  inch  smaller 
than  the  shaft.  I  am  doing  it  all,  of  course. 

INTERVIEWER — But  don't  this  interfere  with  regular 
plans  of  work,  and  make  work  cost  more  without 
being  right ;  and  don't  your  name  and  reputation  go 
out  on  engines  you  are  ashamed  of  ?  Will  such  a  man 
come  to  you  the  second  time  ? 

WYCOFF — Oh  !  the  system  ain't  anything.  I  never 
could  do  anything  with  system.  Machine  work  is 
centering  and  turning  and  drilling  and  planing,  after 
all,  and  when  a  man  comes  after  some,  I,  for  one,  pro- 
pose to  do  it  to  suit  him.  If  he  is  wrong,  I  have  the 
satisfaction  of  one  sale,  at  least.  I  don't  make  two 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  47 

engines  alike.  They  all  want  something  different,  and 
I  give  it  to  them. 

INTERVIEWER — How  much  respect  would  you  have 
for  a  tailor,  who,  acting  on  your  dictation,  would  make 
you  ridiculous,  and,  after  finding  out  your  mistake, 
would  you  go  to  him  again,  or  to  the  arbitrary  tailor 
who  refused  your  absurd  order,  and  which  of  the  two 
would  receive  the  most  orders  from  you  in  the  next 
ten  years  ? 

WYCOFF — Now  you're  going  round  the  question.  It 
don't  make  any  difference  about  the  other  orders,  that 
ain't  what  we  are  talking  about,  and  you  can  see 
yourself  who  got  the  order  in  question.  You  can't 
stuff  me  with  any  such  talk.  Why,  look  here.  Do 
you  mean  to  tell  me,  that,  if  I  order  a  second  machine 
of  a  man,  I  must  not  tell  him,  and  demand  that  he 
should  make  the  bolt  heads  uniform,  and  balance  the 
pulleys  ?  Nonsense  ! 

INTERVIEWER — That's  just  what  I  say.  If  you  are 
^reen  enough  to  order  anything  from  a  man  who  has 
to  be  told  his  business,  you  should  keep  up  the  thing 
Dy  using  his  green  machine,  till  you  learned  that  a 
man  who  accepts  such  suggestions  needs  them,  and 
that  if  he  is  open  to  such  criticism,  his  whole  product 
should  be  suspected  of  immaturity  and  patchwork. 

WYCOFF — Now  I  have  a  case  for  you.  You  see  that 
screw  machine  ?  I  went  out  to  Ohio  and  got  that 
from  the  Niles  Works.  They  made  them  with  a  one 
and  five-eighths  inch  hole  through  the  spindle,  so  that 
they  would  make  three-quarter  bolts.  I  wanted  a  two- 
inch  hole,  so  I  could  make  inch  bolts.  Gray  said  he 
wouldn't  do  it.  Said  they  were  tool  builders,  and  had 
designed  that  machine  in  proper  proportion,  hole  and 
all,  and  that  if  I  wanted  to  make  inch  bolts,  I  ought 
to  get  the  larger  machine,  with  a  two-inch  hole  in  the 
spindle,  and  with  the  other  parts  in  proportion.  Says 


48  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL/S    LETTERS. 

he  :  Suppose  I  should  do  as  you  ask,  and  our  machine 
should  fail  to  do  what  it  never  was  intended  to  do  ? 
What  then  ?  Who  would  lose  the  most,  you  or  the 
Niles  Works  ?  Then  I  dried  him  up  by  saying,  that  if 
he  would  not  make  the  machine  as  I  wanted  it,  I  did 
not  want  it  at  all,  and  more  than  that,  I  wouldn't  take 
it.  He  showed  his  sense  by  giving  in.  Do  you  say 
he  did  wrong  ? 

INTERVIEWER — Of  course  I  do.  He  violated  a 
principle  which,  strictly  adhered  to,  would,  in  the  end, 
result  in  more  screw  machine  sales  than  the  plan  fol- 
lowed. If  the  thing  fails  and  I  should  notice  it,  what 
conclusion  would  I  have  to  come  to,  in  the  absence  of 
knowledge  ? 

WYCOFF — But  it  didn't  fail,  and  Gray  did  what  any 
good  business  man  would  do  under  the  circumstances. 
If  you  want  patrons,  you  must  study  to  please  them. 

Then  I  left.  Here  are  two  voices  from  two  direc- 
tions. 

*  *     *     *     I    want 'to   tell   you    something   about 
Sackett  and   Wycoff  some  day.     There  is  something 
rich  in  their  history. 

*  *     *     *     Two    more    cases    pertaining    to    this 

question.     The   B Locomotive  Works    ordered 

planers  of   a   well-known    shop.      Wanted    cross   rail 
changed.     Tool   men    said,  No  ;    the  rail   was   right. 
They  wouldn't  allow  a  detail  to  be  questioned  after 
they   had    satisfied    themselves    that    it    was    right  ; 
claimed    superior  judgment  upon   that  art,  and   saw 
valuable   patronage   depart   apparently    for   ever.      I 
honor   that    principle    and    that    concern,    for   having 
specific  knowledge  which  they  will  thus  back  up.     The 

B Works  may  have  taken  their  trade  away,  but 

I   believe  they  left  their  profound   respect,  and   that 
trade  will,  in  the  end,  seek  out  and   find  experience 
and  judgment  of  the  positive  kind. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  49 

*  *     *     *     Another  case  :   McGoon,  a  master  me- 
chanic on  a  Western  road,  opened  negotiations  with  a 
concern  for  a  certain  machine.     Concern  sent  cut  and 
description  and  price.     McGoon  doubted  the  strength 
of  a  certain  part.     Concern  said  they  had  made  fifty 
of  them,  and  knew  them  to  be  all  right,  but  "if  you 
desire  we  can  alter  in  any  way  you  see  fit  to  suggest." 

The  next  day  McGoon  ordered  elsewhere.     I  don't 
know  why,  but  have  a  suspicion. 

*  *     *     *     Which  is  the  better  policy  ?     To  make 
patterns  as  cheap  as  possible,  or  to  make  them  as  good 
as  possible  ?     This  question  is  deeper  than   it  looks, 
and  will  not  answer  itself  as  some  might  at  first  sup- 
pose.    There  are  two  important  sides  to  it,  and  the 
subject  is  worthy  of  discussion  by  shop  proprietors. 
If  a  man  does  a  jobbing  business,  and  needs  odd  pat- 
terns for  one  casting,  there  is  certainly  no  doubt  that 
the  patterns  should  be  made  just  as  cheaply  as  possi- 
ble, durability  being  no  object.     What  are  a  lot  of 
such  patterns  worth,  even  if  made  in  the  best  manner? 
Not  one-twentieth  of  the  cost,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten. 
I  don't  consider  odd  patterns  worth  saving.     It  is  bet- 
ter to  burn  such  things  and  make  a  new  one  in  a  hun- 
dred years,  than  to  store  and  insure  them  that  long. 
Burn  such  patterns  and  put  the  premiums  to  the  credit 
of  pattern  expense. 

*  *     *     *     gut  ai|  patterns  are  not  odd  patterns. 
Take  manufactured  machines,  gears  and  other  staple 
articles.     Those  patterns  are  of  value.     But  just  how 
much  we   can  afford   to  pay  for  them    is   the   ques- 
tion.    A  good  pattern-maker  can,  if  he  sees  fit,  make 
a  pattern  which  will  stand  daily  use  and  storage  for 
fifteen  years.     His  work  will  be  solid,  wood  to  wood 
all  over,  five  coats  of  varnish,  and  an  exterior  imper- 
vious to  moisture.     If  he  wants  to,  he  could  make  the 
pattern  in  one-sixth  the  time,  and  the  exterior  shape 

3 


5Q  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

would  be  the  same,  the  castings  from  them  identical. 
But  things  won't  stand  much  knocking  around,  and 
time  will  open  the  joints  and  change  the  shape. 

Modern  machinery  changes  its  skin  every  few 
months,  and  new  patterns  must  be  made. 

This  must  be  considered,  for  if  we  pay  for  durability 
and  don't  use  it,  we  are  buying  something  we  don't 
need.  But  of  course  this  is  a  matter  of  experience. 

*  *     *     *     G makes  his  patterns  perfect.     I 

don't  think  they  could  be  better,  for  he  gets  the  best 
pattern  makers  and  tells  them  to  do  their  best. 

His  patterns  never  wear  out.  He  simply  changes 
his  style,  and  burns  up  those  splendid  old  patterns  and 
makes  new  ones.  He  sent  two  wagon  loads  to  my 
house  for  kindling,  and  I  judged  them  to  be  worth  at 
least  six  hundred  dollars.  Don't  you  think  he  would 
have  been  wiser  to  have  had  these  patterns  made  in  a 
less  costly  style,  and  spent  a  trifle,  or  many  trifles,  on 
their  repair  or  maintenance  ? 

*  *     *     *     The   pattern   account  is  always  a   big 
thing  in  any  shop.     One  trouble  in  the  matter  is  that, 
if  you  want  patterns  to  make  good   castings  true  to 
drawing,  you  must  get  a  good  pattern  maker  to  make 
them,  and  he  won't  make  cheap  patterns,  and  a  poor 
or  cheap  pattern  maker  won't  work  close.     It  is  very 
hard  to  get  a  fine  pattern  maker  to  make  you  a  pat- 
tern just  for  one  casting  ;  he  don't  seem  to  know  how. 
If  pattern   makers  would  be  a  little  more  considerate, 
and  cultivate   judgment  in   this  matter,    they  would 
greatly  increase  their  own  value,  and  proprietors  would 
soon  show  their  appreciation. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  51 


CHAPTER    VI. 

MRS.     TOODLES     RUNS     A     MACHINE     SHOP COMPARATIVE 

COST    OF    SMALL     TOOLS. A     MACHINE     SCREW    MISSION- 
ARY.  HOW    A    GRINDSTONE    WAS    MADE    TO    PAY. 

*  *     *     *     Mrs.  Toodles  still  lives  among  us.     She 
runs  a  machine  shop  now,  in  fact,  she   runs  a  great 
many  shops.      Her  address  is  on  the  books  of  every 
receiver,  assignee,  trustee,  and  bankrupt  firm  in  the 
country. 

They  send  her  lists  of  tools  and  general  shop  plunder, 
to  be  sold  on  such  and  such  a  day.  She  goes  and  looks 
around  and  reasons  in  this  style:  "  What  do  I  want 
with  that  bolt  cutter  ?  That's  a  good  bolt  cutter,  the 
dies  are  all  there,  and  in  good  shape.  I  came  to  buy  a 
bolt  cutter,  but  don't  want  such  a  one  as  that.  And 
that  lathe — I  don't  see  anything  the  matter  with  that. 
If  the  bed  ain't  sprung,  I  don't  want  it.  If  it  is 
modern,  I  don't  want  it.  If  the  change  gears  are  all 
there,  I  don't  want  it.  If  no  teeth  are  broken  out  of 
gears  or  racks,  I  don't  want  it.  If  it  has  proper  belt 
power,  I  don't  want  it.  Don't  care  if  it  is  only  two 
years  old,  I  don't  want  it.  Fitchburg  lathe,  is  it  ? 
Thirty-inch  swing,  twelve-foot  bed  ?  And  you  bought 
it  for  $400!  Well,  I  don't  want  that  lathe.  Why,  I 
run  this  big  lathe  forty  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  girl. 
I  know  it's  a  good  lathe,  and  its  better  than  it  was 
then,  for  it's  been  blocked  up  twice.  You  take  your 
Fitchburg  lathe,  this  one  suits  me.  Now,  you  see,  I've 
got  it — only  $300.  What's  that  going  now  ?  Babbitt 
metal  ?  Let's  see,  I  don't  want  that,  that  ain't  old 
metal.  There's  a  lot  of  twist  drills,  four  old  drills  and 
forty  old  shanks — I  want  them  and  that  vise." 

*  *     *     *     It  is  the  experience  of  machine  auction- 
eers, that  old  worthless  plunder  brings  half  the  market 


52  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORD  AI/S   LETTERS. 

price,  while  it  is  difficult  to  get  bids  on  things  of  real 
value.  Mrs.  Toodles'  auction  bill  would  buy  a  sensi- 
ble person  one  good  lathe,  instead  of  two  good-for- 
nothing  ones.  Her  twist  drills  cost  her  exactly  twice 
the  list  price,  and  when  she  gets  home,  she  will  find 
they  don't  fit  her  drill  sockets  ;  she  will  alter  the 
sockets,  and  then  her  other  drills  won't  fit.  The  plan 
of  breaking  a  twist  drill  in  two  and  calling  it  two 
twist  drills  suits  her. 

*  *  *  *  It  won't  do  to  jump  at  the  cost  of  small 
tools  in  the  shop.  Figures  printed  on  a  manufac- 
turer's price-list  often  look  big,  but  if  accurate  cost  of 
small  home-made  shop  tools  is  kept,  something  will 
be  found  out.  What  shop  can  make  an  inch  tap  as 
cheap  as  one  can  be  bought  ?  When  a  concern  fits  up 
specially  for  a  certain  class  of  tools,  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  their  price-list  is  about  fifty  per  cent,  under  the 
cost  of  home-made  tools.  A  one-inch  solid,  double- 
ended  caliper  for  the  tool  room  can  be  bought  for  a 
dollar  and  a  half.  Leaving  out  any  consideration  of 
accuracy,  how  much  would  it  cost  if  a  three  dollar 
man  made  it  with  the  ordinary  facilities  ?  Gear  cut- 
ting cutters,  so  near  absolute  perfection  as  to  be  un- 
questionable, can  be  bought  for  about  six  dollars 
each.  It  looks  like  a  great  deal  of  money  for  very 
little  steel,  but  have  one  made  in  the  shop,  and  watch 
it.  A  steel  forging  of  unreasonable  size  keeps  a  black- 
smith and  helper  busy  an  hour;  your  draughtsman 
spends  an  hour  drawing  a  shape  on  tin  ;  your  best 
paid  lathesman  works  a  full  day  turning  the  cutter,  if 
he  don't  make  a  special  tool  for  it,  and  he  works  a  day 
on  the  tool,  if  he  does  make  it  ;  then  half  a  day  goes 
in  toothing  it,  and  you  may  put  in  proper  wages  and 
figure  up  the  cost.  When  it  comes  to  tempering  it,  it 
may  be  done,  or  it  may  be  done  for  ;  it  depends  on 
luck,  and  if  tempered  without  cracking,  the  thing  may 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.       53 

be  true  and  may  not  be  ;  and  if  it  isn't  true,  it  won't 
cut  a  space  anything  like  the  draughtman's  tin  draw- 
ing, which  may  have  been  a  good  shape  and  may  not 
have  been.  Price-lists  are  often  condemned  pre- 
maturely. 

*  *  *  *  In  a  late  letter  to  you,  I  was  guilty  of 
an  injustice  to  the  manufacturers  of  machine  screws. 
I  stated  that  their  threads  were  proper  pitch  and  inter- 
changed nicely.  I  must  apologize  for  this  misstate- 
ment,  and  can  only  explain  it  on  the  ground  that  the 
awkward  variety  of  sizes  of  heads  had  caused  so  much 
trouble  in  the  shops,  that  I  had  forgotten  entirely  the 
ordinary  nuisance  of  half-inch  screws  with  a  variety 
of  threads.  There  is  but  one  standard  thread  for 
half-inch  work,  and  that  standard  is  thirteen  threads 
per  inch.  If  I  order  screws  or  taps  from  half  the 
screw  shops,  I  never  know  what  I  am  going  to  get, 
but  I  am  certain  there  will  be  two  chances  to  one 
against  my  getting  the  standard  thing,  for  many  of 
the  unconverted  send  out  their  lists  and  work  as 
follows:  one-half  inch,  12,  13  or  14  threads.  The 
average  looks  all  right,  but  it  won't  fit  all  right.  If 
tap  and  screw  makers  would  go  to  a  little  righteous 
trouble  to  discourage  the  purchase  of  12  and  14  thread 
half-inch  taps,  they  could,  in  a  year,  completely  stop 
the  unholy  traffic.  The  very  life  of  the  machine-screw 
business  rests  on  the  general  suitability  of  the  product 
to  general  circumstances. 

I  have,  as  a  missionary,  talked  to  many  machine- 
shop  owners,  with  tears  in  my  eyes,  seeking  to  con- 
vert them  to  a  sense  of  the  propriety  of  buying  screws 
and  taps,  and  have  made  many  converts.  Aside  from 
a  few  sad  experiences  of  my  own,  I  am  often  called  on, 
by  some  skeptical  convert,  to  defend  the  sins  of  some 
screw-maker  who  should  and  could  keep  his  art  above 
attack. 


54       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS 

*  *  *  I  made  money  by  reorganizing  my 
grindstone  arrangements.  I  have  been  using  three 
foot  stones,  running  slowly  in  wooden  frames,  and 
have  depended  on  almost  anybody  in  the  shop  to  keep 
them  true.  By  the  way,  did  you  ever  notice  that 
there  was  a  charm  in  turning  off  a  grindstone  ?  It's 
so !  This  dirty  job  has  positive  attractions.  The 
skillful  manipulation  of  the  "  tool,"  the  caution  re- 
quired, the  constant  muscular  and  mental  strain,  all 
make  the  job  really  unpleasantly  pleasant,  after  it  is 
started.  But  about  my  grindstones.  They  were  most 
always  out  of  true  ;  men  put  off  grinding  tools  as  long 
as  possible,  worked  with  dull  tools,  and,  of  course,  did 
poor  work  and  wasted  lots  of  time.  Let  a  man  be 
working  on  a  nice  lathe  job,  the  tool  gets  dull  ;  he 
thinks  of  the  awful  grindstone,  postpones  grinding  till 
he  gets  real  mad,  then  does  it  and  gets  nervous  and 
unfit  for  the  work  in  hand. 

I  pro'd  and  conn'd  over  the  thing  in  this  way  : 

These  stones  are  out  of  true,  because  they  gouge 
easily.  They  gouge  easily,  because  they  run  slow. 
They  run  slow  for  convenience  in  trueing  up.  They 
don't  get  trued  up,  because  the  shaft  is  loose  in  the 
shackly  frame.  A  quick- running  stone  cuts  fast  and 
nice,  and  a  slow-running  stone  gets  cut  fast  and 
awfully.  I'll  change  the  whole  thing. 

*  *  *  *  j  bought  three  solid  metal  frames, 
paid  thirty  dollars  each  for  them  ;  I  think  my  old 
wooden  ones  have  indirectly  cost  me  a  thousand 
dollars  a  piece.  These  frames  are  troughs,  have  heavy 
shafts,  good  solid  boxes,  convenient  rests,  a  wonderful 
contrivance  for  holding  a  tank  above  them,  and  the 
whole  establishment  is  on  wheels. 

I  rigged  a  pulley  out  doors,  and  run  the  stones  out 
there  at  slow  speed,  and  had  them  turned  up  nicely. 
I,  of  course,  had  to  go  and  turn  one  myself.  Then  I 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  55 

wheeled  them  back  in  the  shop,  and  run  them  at  very 
high  speed,  and  fixed  pulleys  so  the  speed  could  be 
increased  as  the  stone  got  smaller.  The  frames  had  a 
self-tru-eing  apparatus  on  them,  which  will  true  the 
stone  while  it  runs  wet  at  high  speed,  so  I  don't  get 
any  dust  in  the  shop.  I  appointed  Charley  a  com- 
mittee of  one  to  see  that  these  stones  were  always 
true,  not  pretty  near  true,  but  perfectly  true  all  the 
time,  without  regard  10  the  number  of  stones  used  up 
in  a  year.  He  is  also  superintendent  of  the  water 
works,  and  sees  that  no  lathesmen  have  to  run  after 
water  for  these  stones,  or  to  grind  dry. 

*  *  *  *  Between  you  and  me,  those-things  were 
paid  for  in  a  month.  The  men  work  with  sharp  tools 
and  neat  tools  ;  they  pile  great  clean  chips  under  the 
lathes,  and  don't  require  one-quarter  the  tool-dressing 
they  did  before.  Charley  keeps  the  grindstone  ma- 
chinery swept  nice  and  clean,  and  it  is  no  longer  the 
repulsive  servant  it  used  to  be. 


56  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

HISTORY        OF       TWO       JOURS. WYCOFF's       SHOP       PHOTO- 
GRAPHED.— LONGEVITY    OF    SHOPS. 

*  *     *     *     i  promised  you  a  story  with  figures  in 
it.      Here   it  is  :      Twenty-two   years   ago,    Sherman 
Sackett  and  William    Wycoff  completed  their  appren- 
ticeships  at   the    Novelty   Works.     They   worked  on 
three  months  as   journeymen,  and  then,  as   journey- 
men, they  tramped.     They  were  both,  in  the  ordinary 
sense   of  the    word,  good  workmen,  and  both   stood 
equal  on  the  pay  books.     They  tramped  at  the  same 
time  and   with   equal   resources,   viz  :    valise   full   of 
clothes  for  outfit,  and   ball   pein  hammer  for  plant. 
They  passed  through  the  vicissitudes  usual  in  the  life 
of  tramping  jours  :  job  after  job,  shop  after  shop,  year 
after  year.     When  this  stopped,  I  do  not  know,  but 
Sackett  is  now  the  mayor  of  a  town,  the  owner  of  a 
shop,  and  the  employer  of  sixty  men.     Wycoff  also  has 
a  shop  and  employs  fifty  men.     They  seem  to  have 
prospered.      The   fact   is,  they   struck   rich  veins   of 
work,  of  which,  more  anon  ;  they  entered  untouched 
ripened   fields   as    reapers,   when    almost  tired   with 
seeking. 

*  *     *     *     Two  years  ago  a  certain  patentee,  act- 
ing on  my   valuable  advice,  took  both   Sackett  and 
Wycoff  a  sample  of  his  machine.     I  say  machine,  but 
the   following   figures   will   show  that  it  was  a  very 
trifling  affair,  but  of  such  products  is  the  kingdom  of 
industry.     He  gave  each  an  order  for  three  machines, 
with  no  stipulations  as  to  price,  his  object  being  to  se- 
cure samples  of  their  work,  and  to  ultimately  solicit 
propositions  to  build  the  machines  in  quantities.     This 
intention  was  understood  all  around.     The  machines 
were  built,  the  quality  being  about  equal,  and  to  sam- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL/S     LETTERS.  57 

pie.  WycofFs  bill  was  for  three  machines,  at  $40  each; 
Sackett's.  bill  was  for  three  machines  at  $67  each. 
Wycoff  had  given  Mr.  Patentee  an  "  estimate"  of  $40 
each,  and  Sackett's  estimate  had  been  $70  each. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  there  is  considerable  differ- 
ence in  these  bills,  but  Mr.  Patentee  knew  something 
about  the  machine  business  and  was  not  disposed  to 
find  fault.  He  knew  Sackett's  bill  was  based  on  cost, 
plus  profit,  and  that  it  would  not  be  lowered,  and  there 
was  no  pressing  desire  to  have  Wycoff  raise  his  bill. 

*  *     *     *     £je    now  invited    proposals    for    5,000 
machines.     Wycoff  bid  as  follows  :    "Will  make  5,000 
machines  for  $24  each,  100  machines  per  week,  pay- 
ments weekly."     Here  is  Sackett's  bid  :  "  Will  make 
5,000  machines  for  $8  each,  i.ooo  machines  per  week, 
payment  on  completion  of  order." 

If  there  was  anything  strange  about  the  bills,  there 
is  something  stranger  about  these  bids.  The  two  men 
have  about  the  same  capital  invested  in  exactly  the 
same  line  of  business,  and  their  tools  are  nearly  ident- 
ical, and  their  shops  are  not  a  mile  apart. 

Wycoff's  wanting  money  weekly  is  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  he  had  no  loose  capital  and  could  not 
carry  the  job.  But  what  caused  the  difference  between 
100  machines  per  week  and  1,000  machines  per  week, 
and  what  caused  the  difference  of  200  per  cent,  in 
price  ?  I  will  say,  right  here,  that  Sackett  got  the 
order  and  filled  it,  and  has  filled  several  more  like  it 
since. 

*  *     *     *     Knowing  the  men  as  I  do,  I  can  give 
the  reasons  for  their  great  difference  in  bills  and  bids. 
The  fact  is  there  is  over  200  per  cent,  difference  in  the 
men   as   manufacturers.     Wycoff,    in    the   first  place, 
didn't  know,  when  he  "estimated"  on  the  samples, 
what  it  would  cost  to  build  the  three  machines  ;  he 
guessed  at  it.     He  didn't  know  what  they  did  cost 


58  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

after  he  did  build  them;  he  guessed  at  that.  Guessed 
he  had  made  money  on  them,  and  guessed  he  could 
afford  to  shorten  up  on  the  profit  on  a  large  order.  It 
happened,  however,  that  the  larger  order  "guessed 
not."  My  own  opinion  is  that  if  he  had  received  the 
job  at  $24  each  he  would  have  lost  money.  Around 
his  entire  premises  there  is  nothing  to  show  what  any- 
thing ever  did  cost,  except  raw  material.  It  is  a  good 
thing  he  saves  old  bills.  He  keeps  books,  of  course, 
and  knows  all  about  his  debits  and  credits,  but  nought 
else. 

Now  it  happens  that  Sackett,  our'successful  bidder 
and  successful  manufacturer,  carries  in  his  hat  the 
brains  of  a  systematic  manager.  His  estimate  on  the 
first  three  machines  was  not  guessed  at,  but  was  care- 
fully calculated  from  the  nearest  parallel  cases  he 
could  find  in  his  prime  cost  books.  When  the  ma- 
chines were  done,  he  found  things  about  as  he  had  ex- 
pected, and  by  carefully  watching  details,  had  already 
mapped  out  a  plan  of  operations  and  system  of  pro- 
duction, which  would  enable  him  to  make  these  ma- 
chines in  great  quantities  and  at  a  low  price.  There 
was  nothing  surprising  to  him  in  the  difference  be- 
tween the  first  three  machines,  and  those  he  subse- 
quently made  ;  while  in  WycofFs  case,  I  do  not  think 
there  would  have  been  much  difference. 

*  *  *  *  The  difference  between  Sackett  and 
Wycoff,  as  manufacturers,  crops  out  all  over.  Sackett 
employs  good  men  at  good  wages  and  keeps  them. 
Wycoff  employs  good  men  at  good  wages  and  can't 
keep  them.  There  is  something  in  the  atmosphere  of 
WycofFs  shop  that  seems  to  deprive  a  man  of  his  self- 
respect,  which  is,  in  reality,  the  main-stay,  sheet-anchor, 
and  only  hope  of  the  workingman.  Wycoff  puts  much 
trust  in  rules  and  regulations.  You  will  see  a  string 
of  them,  as  long  as  your  arm,  as  soon  as  you  enter  the 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.       59 

shop.  They  are  frequent  on  the  walls,  supplemented, 
occasionally,  by  an  enlarged  edition  of  some  particu- 
lar one  thought  worthy  of  a  separate  frame.  One 
may  be  noticed  with  the  attractive  and  endearing 
legend,  "We  expect  a  day's  work  for  a  day's  pay." 
Wycoff  stole  this  thing  somewhere,  for  there  is  no 
u  We"  in  his  concern. 

*  *     *     *     I  once  saw  a  body  of  men  on  a  strike. 
They  had  been  getting  $4  for  six  hours'  work,  and  de- 
manded $6  for  four  hours'  work.     This  was  many  feet 
below  the  bottom  of  the  Mississippi  river,  where  the 
air  was  compressed  so  much  that  the  workmen  who 
were  at  all  damaged   by  it  were  thrown  into  what  the 
bridge  hands  called  the  "  Grecian  bend."     When  the 
bent  ones  straightened  out,  it  was  often  permanently. 
But  of  course,  this  is  not  appropriate.     Wycoff  s  men 
didn't   have  to   work   in    a   compressed    atmosphere. 
Oh  no! 

*  *     *     *    Take  a  trip  through  his  shop.  The  tools 
are  generally  modern  and  good,  but  wretchedly  kept, 
and  we  see  no  waste  that  looks  as  if  it  would  clean 
anything.     Yonder's  a  chap  turning  what  appears  to 
be  a  throttle-stem,  for  it  has  an  elliptic  button  on  one 
end.     He  is  taking  a  water-cut  .over  it,  and  that  white 
lead    keg   blocked   up  on  the  lathe  carriage  bears  a 
striking  resemblance  to  the  one  we  saw  over  the  north 
grindstone.     Those  earmarks  of  grindstone  grit  make 
the  matter  certain.     Here's  a  Bench  or  counter  in  the 
middle  of  the  shop,  and  on  it  some  finished  work,  a 
chuck  or  two,  an  island  of  horrible  looking  waste,  half 
a  dozen  flat  drills  and  a  piece  of  twist  drill,  and  here 
lies  a  tap,  clean  and  nice,  and  we  pick  it  up  arid   ex- 
amine it.     We  see  at  once  that  it  is  home-made,  but  it 
is  a  beauty,  clean  cut  and  neat.     You  find  it  impossi- 
ble to  help  admiring  this  simple  tool,  for  you  have 
made  a  tap  or  two  yourself,  but  none   so  perfect  as 


60  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

this.  You  lay  it  down  and  go  on  through  the  shop. 
Next  week  you  may  see  the  dismembered  fragments 
of  our  tap  in  place  of  its  present  misplaced  perfection. 
Here  we  find  Wycoff,  coat  off  and  honestly  greasy. 
Yes,  he  does  keep  a  foreman,  or  tries  to,  rather  ;  kings 
without  thrones.  "Ah  !  Mr.  Chordal,  how  do  you  do  ? 
Happy  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Miller,  and  you,  Mr.  Bailey, 
and  Mr.  Moore;  excuse  my  gloves — belong  to  the 
laboring  classes,  you  see.  Look  busy,  eh  ?  should 
think  I  was  ;  got  enough  work  to — excuse  me,  gentle- 
men, got  to  shrink  this  crank  on." 

*  *  *  *  \ye  notice  that  just  in  front  of  us,  on 
trestles,  lies  a  six  inch  shaft,  with  an  end  projecting. 
And  now,  upon  the  scene,  through  the  blacksmith- 
shop  door  come  four  men,  whom  I  know  to  be  the  best 
paid  machinists  in  the  shop,  bearing  a  thirty-inch 
crank-plate,  glowing  hot.  They  quickly  place  it  in 
position  to  start  on  the  shaft,  and  proceed  to  urge  it. 
From  the  time  Wycoff  left  us,  he  has  not  ceased  to 
speak  or  excitedly  yell  over  this  job.  We  know  a 
single  yell  will  spoil  a  shrinking  fit,  but  Wycoff,  prob- 
ably, don't  know  it.  Now  an  excited  order  to  one  man 
to  go  for  that  block  ;  to  this  man  to  raise  up  ;  and  to 
that  one  to  let  down;  now  a  snub  to  the  man  who  is 
really  responsible  for  the  job  ;  now  he  frantically 
grabs  a  sledge  and  strikes  a  lick  or. two  ;  now  at  some- 
thing else.  Every  word  spoken  seems  to  be  immature, 
every  action  a  false  one.  We  walk  on.  You  remark 
that  Wycoff  don't  seem  to  be  a  cool  man,  and  that  if 
you  had  any  money  invested  in  that  crank,  you  would 
prefer  to  entrust  the  job  to  the  jour,  whom  W.  just 
snubbed,  and  who  seems  to  have  lost  all  interest  in 
the  proceeding,  simply  looking  on  with  servile 
disgust. 

It's  a  habit  of  Wycoff's  to  take  all  such  jobs  into  his 
own  hands,  generally  nipping  them  in  their  fruition. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS.  63 

The  crank  was  all  right,  but  it  is  now  stuck  half  way, 
and  to-morrow  they  will  try  to  get  it  off  again. 

*  *     *     *     \Ve  go  over  towards  a  new  engine  on 
the  floor,  when  in  come  four  men  with  a  twelve-foot 
shaft,  red   hot.     They  go  over  to  the  long  lathe.     Up 
goes  the  shaft  on  the   blocks  ;  now  upon  the  centers  ; 
now  it  is  revolved  and  gets  chalked;  and  now  it  comes 
out  and  gets  pounded  and  dented,  and  in  two  hours  it 
will  get  straightened.     Two  hours  of  what  ?     Lathes- 
men,  60  cents  ;  two  blacksmiths,  $1.20  ;  one  helper,  20 
cents;  total,  $2.00,  plus  two  fires  and  a  lathe  standing 
still,  and — those  hammer  marks. 

We  go  on  over  to  the  beforementioned  engine  ;  it's 
about  half  done.  You  ask  if  Trumbull  didn't  furnish 
the  castings.  No  ;  but  he  furnished  the  design.  Wy- 
coff's  pattern  maker  measured  one  of  Trumbull's  en- 
gines and  made  these  patterns  from  those  measure- 
ments. There  is  no  drawing  in  the  shop  for  any  part 
of  it,  not  a  memorandum  even.  The  "  copy"  is  in  a 
mill  about  a  mile  from  here,  and  Wycoff's  foreman  has 
made  over  thirty  trips,  so  far,  to  take  a  look  at  details. 
Nobody  knows  how  many  trips  it  will  take  to  finish  it, 
but  we  know  that  it  will  take  just  as  many  for  the  next 
engine,  and  the  next.  We  know  what  a  set  of  draw- 
ings would  cost,  but  no  man  knows  what  this  engine 
will  cost,  or  will  not  cost.  We  leave  it. 

*  *     *     *     Here's   a   planer,    splendid    tool  !     Be- 
ment's  ;  but  Bement  wouldn't  recognize  it.     The  table 
don't  look  like  a  planer  table  at  all.     Seems  as  if  the 
prismatic  rays  from  a  spectroscope  had  fallen  on  this 
table  lengthwise,  and  on  these  rays  have  fallen  cross- 
wise— hammer    marks,   and    chisel  marks,    and    sand 
marks,  and  water,  and  oil,  and  soap,  and  chips,  and 
dirt. 

It  is  not 'so  all  over,  however,  for  there  a  small 
place  has  been  cleaned,  and  that  new  job  will  soon  be 


64  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS. 

fastened    there,    if    Gus    can    find    suitable    bolts    up 
among  the  lathes. 

You  knew  Gus  when  he  worked  at  the  Empire 
Works.  He  was  not  such  a  miserable  slouch  then  ; 
he  was  a  good  workman,  and  you  wonder  if  his  skill 
is  not  endangered  by  his  present  habits.  I  can  tell 
you,  his  skill  is  now  a  total  wreck.  He  worked  for  me 
long  ago,  and  left  another  man  once  and  came  to 
work  for  me  again.  I  sent  him  back.  He  seemed  to 
be  two  different  men.  He  gets  good  pay  and  will  as 
long  as  he  stays  here,  but  his  pride  of  skill  and  his 
self-respect  have  gone  forever. 

You  have  an  eye  for  the  tool  holders  or  clamps  on 
this  planer.  Three  nuts  of  one  size,  and  one  nut  of 
three  other  sizes.  You  look  to  see  what  manner  of 
universal  wrench  Gus  uses  for  a  tool  wrench.  Finally, 
you  spy  it ;  a  monkey  wrench.  Strange,  but  you 
hadn't  thought  of  that.  Now  we  go  into  the  foundry. 
Notice  that  the  only  way  to  get  into  the  foundry^is 
through  the  machine  shop,  and  the  only  way  for  the 
castings  to  get  out  of  the  foundry  is  through  the 
machine  shop,  which  we  find  littered  up  with  lamp 
posts,  grate  bars,  sash  weights,  spout  guards,  in  fact, 
an  index  to  the  foundry  order  book. 

*  *  *  *  Here  we  are  in  the  foundry.  Here's  a 
facing  mill,  and  a  blower,  and  a  rattler  within  six  feet 
of  it,  showing  little  regard  for  the  lungs  of  the  work- 
men or  the  journals  of  the  blower.  There's  a  man 
cleaning  off  a  sugar  mill  roller.  Know  him,  do  you  ? 
No,  he  is  not  a  cleaner,  but  a  well  paid  machinist. 
We  see  they  intend  to  run  off  a  heat  soon;  let's  go. 
We  don't  want  -to  see  Wycoff  at  work  in  here.  He  will 
come  in  when  the  iron  comes  down,  will  bring  the  best 
men  out  of  the  machine  shop  with  him,  will  tap  out, 
and  skim,  and  riotously  work  mud  on  the  end  "of  the 
plugging  stick,  and  yell  and  swear  and  superintend 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  65 

generally.  His  foreman  is  a  well-paid  man,  but  help- 
less. If  Wycoff  kept  cost  books  he  should  credit  the 
foundry  with  his  services  at  five  dollars  per  hour. 

*  *     *     *     We  go  out — past  the  planers,  past  the 
Wycoff  engine,   past  the   whole   committee    on    mean 
ways   of   straightening    shafting,    past    the    half-way 
crank  and  its  ponderous  factors,  past  our   beautiful 
tap— out   from  under  the   garish    rules   and   into   the 
street. 

We  will  see  Sackett's  shop  some  time  and  many 
times.  His  interior,  his  processes,  his  men,  his  man- 
agement, will  all  furnish  material  for  instructive  men- 
tion in  these  letters  some  day. 

*  *     *     *     Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  the  re- 
publican idea  could  have  an  effect  upon  the  tenure  of 
life  of  productive  concerns  ?     In  the  old  countries  it 
takes  two  generations  to  get  an  establishment  under 
headway,  and  then  future  generations  follow  the  bus- 
iness up  as  long  as  one  of  the  family  name  lives,  and 
when  all  are  dead,  others  continue  it  under  the  old 
name.     Very  many  foreign  shops  are  run  under  names 
having  no  real  representative  on  earth.     The  English 
shops,   especially,  are  noticeable  for  this.     These  old 
shops  don't  progress  any,  and,  as  the  people  are  con- 
servative,  everything  is  lovely.      Extinction  is   to   be 
tol-erated,  but  progress  or  variation    never.     Old  and 
well-established  firms  have  a  name  as  an  asset.     How 
is  it  in  this  country  ?     What  man  starting  business  as 
a  manufacturer  seeks  an  old  house  to  follow  ?     Where 
is  there  a  case  of  an  old  house  even  with  the  times  ? 
Our  old  shops  don't  retrograde  at  all ;  they  simply  re- 
main, and  our  republic  marches  on  and  leaves  them 
behind.     We   are   nationally  progressive,    and    enter- 
prises in  this  country  must  be  ever  in  moving  order. 
Conservative  nations  don't  move,  so  there  is  no  danger 
of  shops  being  left  behind.     In  our  country   an  old 


66  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

shop  cannot  be  sold.  No  keen  man  builds  a  shop  on 
the  ground  where  one  of  the  old  shops  stood.  An  old 
name  is  a  damage.  There  is  a  limitation  to  the  life  of 
all  manufacturing  concerns  here.  They  start  even 
with  the  times  ;  they  prosper  ;  they  make  money  ; 
while  they  settle  into  habit,  the  world  moves.  They 
slumber  and  make  less  money.  They  wake,  and  see 
what's  up.  Too  late  !  All  their  former  earnings  are 
lavishly  expended  in  attempts  to  regain  their  old 
place.  It  is  a  waste  of  money  and  against  the  national 
nature  of  things.  "  Last  scene  of  all  ;"  Advertisement 
— "  An  old  established  business  for  sale."  The  wise 
man  don't  buy  it,  and  don't  steal  their  name,  and  don't 
build  next  door,  and  don't  copy  their  product.  Not 
much  !  He  goes  where  their  smoke  cannot  reach  his 
roof  ;  he  builds  new,  makes  his  bow,  shows  goods 
adapted  to  the  day — and  prospers,  and  falls  into  habit 
and  slumbers,  and  wakes,  and  expends,  and  advertises 
"  An  old  established  business,"  etc. 

Men,  as  they  leave  middle  age,  become  averse  to 
changes  of  their  customers,  and  will  not  yield  to  them; 
they  cannot  yield  and  they  must  fall.  It  is  human 
nature  against  climate,  government,  youth,  growth 
and  human  nature  combined.  The  conflict  is  inevit- 
able, the  result  certain.  To  the  old  something,  "Strike 
while  the  iron  is  hot,0  let  me  append,  "  Heat  the  iron 
while  the  fires  burn,  and  then  quit  and  live  on  the  re- 
sult." Cold  iron  will  never  relight  dead  fires. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS.  67 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

YE     HEARTSICK    TRAMPING     JOUR. HOW    TO     GET     UP     IN 

THE      WORLD. KEEPING     MUM      ABOUT      WAGES.. — HIGH 

WAGES      VS.     HIGH      FIRST      COST     OF    PRODUCT. — WHAT 
CONSTITUTES    A    GOOD    WORKMAN. 

*  *  *  *  There  certainly  can  be  no  better  or 
surer  sign  of  returning  prosperity  to  the  trade  than 
the  growing  scarcity  of  craftsmen.  Three  years  ago 
ye  heartsick  tramping  jour,  greeted  us  daily  in  search 
of  work  at  a  dollar  and  a-half  a  day.  He  was  hard  up 
and  hard  looking.  He  had  no  tools,  not  even  the 
inevitable  twisted  scriber.  His  breeches  were  patched 
in  the  seat,  and  the  patches  were  worn  out.  He  was 
really  out  of  work  and  in  search  of  work. 

Now  he  don't  come  at  all.  He  has  work  at  wages 
ranging  from  $1.75  to  $3.00  per  day,  and  receives 
letters  daily  asking  him  if  he  wants  work.  He  has 
had  a  hard  time  of  it,  and  will  welcome  a  new  order 
of  things.  He  has  always  made  one  mistake,  and  the 
sooner  he  finds  it  out  the  better.  The  average  ma- 
chinist considers  all  machinists  the  same,  and  thinks 
they  should  all  receive  the  same  pay.  He  has  a 
certain  amount  of  bigotry  about  him,  and  cannot  be 
convinced  that  he  is  not  as  valuable  a  man  as  there  is 
on  earth,  You  find  it  hard  to  convince  him  that  he  is 
worth  more  or  less  than  others.  He  will  kick,  if  he 
gets  less  wages  than  others,  and  others  will  kick  if  he 
gets  more.  I  have  worked  as  journeyman  in  forty 
different  machine  shops,  and  I  give  it  as  my  solemn 
conviction,  that  my  prosperity  has  been  more  retarded 
by  the  narrow-mindedness  of  my  fellow  workmen, 
than  by  the  greed  of  my  employers.  The  most  un- 
comfortable shops  I  have  ever  worked  in,  have  been 
those  where  I  was  best  paid,  I  never  failed  in  making 


68        EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

satisfactory  terms  with  employers,  but  I  never  could 
make  any  terms  with  shop  mates.  I  never  yet  knew 
of  a  case  of  one  workman  lending  a  helping  hand  to 
another,  if  that  help  had  a  tendency  to  raise  the 
helpee  above  the  helper's  pay.  There's  a  good  time 
coming,  boys,  and  a  better  time  to  start  new  in  this 
thing  will  never  occur.  Make  yourself  as  skillful 
as  your  talents  will  permit.  Insist  on  working  in 
places  and  on  work  where  your  skill  can  be  best 
applied,  and  insist  on  receiving  market  value  for  the 
grade  of  skill  you  sell. 

Study  the  thing  well  and  grade  yourself.  You 
know  very  well  of  workmen  who  are  worse  workmen 
than  yourselves — men  who,  if  you  or  I  had  the  say  so 
about  it,  would  quit  the  bench  and  go  to  cleaning 
castings  or  pounding  sand.  You  know  they  are  not 
valuable  men  at  the  same  work  you  are  on.  You 
know  they  are  not  worth  the  money  to  the  shop  that 
you  are.  You  think  the  employer  a  fool  for  paying 
them  the  wages  he  does,  when  many  better  men  could 
be  had  at  the  same  pay.  You  and  I  know  this  mighty 
well.  But  we  also  know  that  there  are  men  far  more 
valuable  than  we  ;  men  who  do  twice  the  work  with- 
out sweating  half  so  hard  ;  men  who  do  nice  work 
which  we  never  dared  to  attempt  ;  men  who  can  do 
work  without  tools,  and  are  never  helpless.  They  are 
mighty  workmen  whose  skill  we  should  envy.  We 
know  such  a  man  is  worth  more  money  than  we  are, 
and  that  we  are  doing  ourselves  injustice,  when  we 
make  things  warm  for  him  because  he  gets  a  quarter 
a  day  more  than  we  do.  It  is  honest  truth,  that  most 
employers  treat  men  with  more  consideration  than  the 
men  treat  each  other. 

*  *  *  *  i  have  raised  my  pay  several  times,  and 
feet  justified  in  giving  machinists  a  little  advice  on 
the  subject,  and  unhesitatingly  say,  that  if  you  will 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAl/S     LETTERS.  69 

follow  what  I  say  in  the  next  few  lines,  you  will  get 
good  wages  in  the  next  six  months.  First  and  fore- 
most, settle  with  yourself  what  you  are  good  for,  and 
what  you  are  best  for.  If  you  are  a  lightning  man  on 
fine  close  work,  don't  go  to  a  threshing  machine  shop 
for  a  profitable  job.  You  will  be  worthless  there.  If 
you  are  a  tip-top  lathesman,  don't  go  to  botching  work 
at  the  vise.  Good  vise  hands  are  in  demand  to-day  at 
fair  wages.  So  are  good  lathesmen  on  good  work, 
and  so  are  crack  lathesmen  on  rough  work.  Bad  ones 
can't  get  jobs  at  any  wages,  and  all  are  bad,  if  working 
on  something  they  can't  do  satisfactorily.  If  you  are  a 
good  and  valuable  workman  in  any  branch  of  the 
regular  machine  trade,  you  can  get  work  in  that  branch, 
if  you  will  use  good  sense  in  determining  your  proper 
grade. 

Don't  haggle  about  wages,  and  don't  ask  for  some 
other  man's  wages,  till  you  know  that  that  man  is  as 
valuable  a  man  as  yourself. 

Prove  your  worth  in  the  shop,  and  you  will  get  your 
money,  and,  when  you  prove  more  valuable,  you  will 
get  more.  Now  comes  the  golden  rule  :  Keep  your 
mouth  shut  and  don't  tell  any  man.  woman  or  child 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  what  wages  you  do  get,  unless 
you  don't  get  what  you  are  worth,  in  which  case  go  to 
the  office  alone  and  fix  it  at  once.  Remember  that. 
Don't  brag  about  your  wages  to  any  soul  as  long  as 
you  live.  If  you  get  a  raise  and  blab  it,  the  bosses  will 
kick  you  out  for  your  lack  of  sense,  or  the  other  boys 
will  freeze  you  out  for  your  good  luck. 

No  man  under  heaven  could  carry  on  business  suc- 
cessfully, if  he  told  his  competitors  all  about  his 
business,  and  kept  his  books  open  for  inspection. 
Keep  mum  about  your  wages.  If  some  bank  cashier 
asks  you  how  much  pay  you  get,  ask  him  how  much 
he  gets  before  you  answer. 


70  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

Good  workmen  are  not  only  getting  scarce,  but  they 
have  been  scarce  for  some  time.  The  good  workman 
is  generally  a  good  common-sense  sort  of  a  man  in 
every  way,  and  when  the  panic  struck  the  trade,  he 
showed  his  sense  by  making  other  arrangements. 
The  consequence  is,  that  to-day  an  increased  business 
finds  that  the  only  source  of  special  supply  is  a  mass 
of  material  first  discarded  from  the  shops,  on  account 
of  being  the  least  valuable.  Those  who  have  served 
their  apprenticeship  during  the  dull  times  have 
become  discouraged  at  the  small  wages  they  were 
to  receive  as  jours.,  and,  if  they  were  ambitious,  they 
quit  and  abandon  the  trade.  This  left  the  slouchy 
cubs  in  the  shop.  Those  short-sighted  employers  who 
think  they  can  make  money  out  of  the  machine  busi- 
ness, if  they  can  only  get  men  at  low  enough  wages, 
have  had  their  chance.  It  will  be  long  before  they 
will  have  another  such  chance,  and  I  now  make  all 
such  employers  an  offer.  I  will  bet  a  fifty  cent 
cummer  hat  with  each  of  them,  that  there  is  more 
profit  in  a  job  done  by  three-dollar  men,  than  there  is 
in  the  same  job  done  by  one-dollar  men,  other  things 
being  equal.  Low  wages  means  a  low  grade  of  work- 
men, and  that  means  a  high  first  cost  of  product.  I 
speak  of  comparative  wages,  of  course,  comparative 
with  reference  to  the  grade  of  work. 

*  *  *  *  Some  machinists,  when  they  speak  of  a 
good  workman,  mean  a  man  who  is  fine,  close  and 
accurate.  This  is  not  correct  one-half  the  time. 
There  are  just  as  good  men  working  on  rough  port- 
able engines  as  you  can  find  in  the  shops.  They 
are  skillful  men.  But  put  them  into  shops  build- 
ing tools,  and  they  are  gone  ;  fact  is,  they  should 
not  have  come.  In  the  same  way,  the  tool  man 
isn't  worth  his  salt  on  portable  engines.  He 
accomplishes  nothing,  and  is  hard  at  work  all 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORD AI/S    LETTERS.  71 

the  time.  Some  folks  think  a  job  can't  be  done  too 
well.  Nonsense  !  There's  more  work  done  too  well 
than  too  bad.  It  is  no  trouble  to  go  and  contract  for 
good  work  and  get  it ;  but  it  is  hard  to  get  rough 
work  properly  done.  Some  one  has  said  that  dirt  is 
simply  matter  misplaced,  and  I  say  that  bad  work  is 
simply  labor  misplaced.  If  I  saw  a  man  painting  a 
sewing  machine  shuttle  with  coal  tar,  I  would  say  he 
was  botching  the  job,  and  if  I  saw  him  putting  a 
crocus  finish  on  a  hand-car  crank,  I  would  say  the 
same  thing. 

If  a  man  grinds  up  a  sugar  mill  roll  on  a  Morton 
Pool  machine,  he  makes  no  better  job  of  it  than  if  he 
had  taken  a  single  roughing  cut  over  it.  A  skilled 
workman  is  one  understanding  the  tricks  and  arts  of 
his  trade.  If  he  has  the  judgment  and  common  sense  • 
which  tells  him  how  and  where  to  apply  his  skill,  he  is 
a  good  and  valuable  workman.  If  he  does  not  know 
how  and  where  to  apply  his  skill,  he  is  not  a  good  and 
valuable  workman.  There  are  more  bad  skillful  work- 
men than  good  ones,  and  the  thing  must  be  equalized 
by  supervision.  The  foreman  is  to  supply  the  judg- 
ment, and  the  workman  the  skill.  A  skillful  foreman 
is  generally  a  bad  foreman,  for  he  has  judgment 
mixed  up  with  his  skill,  and  supposes  that  every 
other  skilled  workman  has  judgment  also.  He  will 
give  a  man  a  job  and  leave  him  to  his  own  devices, 
and  if  the  job  is  badly  done,  he  will  lay  it  to  the  man 
because  he  knows  he  could  have  done  it  properly 
himself.  Such  a  foreman  often  says  it  is  more  trouble 
to  instruct  a  workman  than  to  do  the  work.  A  fore- 
man with  more  judgment  and  less  skill  would  advise 
such  a  workman  to  quit  the  machine  trade  and  go 
into  the  post-hole  business,  on  account  of  its  being 
less  abstruse. 


72       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     IX. 

EXTENSION  OF  SHOPS. — DEVELOPING  INTO  A  STOCK  COM- 
PANY.  A  TIME-KEEPING  MACHINE. — HUNTER'S  FOUN- 
DRY ACCOUNTS. — OWNERSHIP  OF  PATTERNS. 

*  *     *     *     you  honored  a  former   letter  by  copi- 
ously extracting  remarks  relative  to  the  length  of  time 
manufacturing   establishments    hold    their    places    in 
this  country.     I  often  wonder  if  any  one  looks  at  "ex- 
tension" in  the  same  light  that  I  do.     By  extension,  I 
do  not  refer  to  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  a  business, 
but   rather  to  the  uncalled  for  spread   which    elated 
manufacturers  are  prone  to  indulge  in. 

Can  you  not  call  to  mind  a  dozen  or  a  hundred  men 
who,  either  alone  or  in  association  with  a  single  part- 
ner, have  built  up  their  business  from  nothing  to  a  de- 
cided success,  making  money  and  decidedly  prosper- 
ous ?  Follow  them  and  ask  yourselves  :  Shall  we  do 
as  they  do  ? 

*  *     *     *     Their    course  is,  too  often,    after   this 
manner.     They  find  their  business  an   unaccountable 
and  overwhelming  success.     Their   money  is   all   in- 
vested, their    room  crowded,  their    energies  and  ca- 
pacity fully  taxed,  and  they  are  making  money.     So  far, 
so  good.     But  with  the  expansive  desire  which  leads 
on  to  ruin,  they  look  for  outside  capital,  to  admit  into 
their  own    well-feathered    nest.      The    modern    stock 
company   suggests     itself.     They  form,    incorporate, 
print  stock,  sell  it,  leave  the  old  shop,  move  to  some 
high-bidding   town,  build  new  and  large,  and  strike 
out  with  a  spoon  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the 
sugar.     The  first  election  of  officers  puts  the  origina- 
tors at  the  head,  of  course.     Things  prosper,  and  be- 
fore another  election  the  new  stock-holders  get  some 
experience  in  the  business  rubbed  off  on  them  by  con- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  73 

tact,  and  begin  to  have  an  idea  or  two.  The  new  elec- 
tion changes  affairs.  One  of  the  charter  members 
finds  himself  out.  Next  election  the  other  goes.  They 
hold  their  stock,  of  course,  and  share  the  profits,  but 
what  are  profits,  compared  with  the  privilege  of  hav- 
ing a  hand  in  the  control  of  a  business,  whose  creation 
and  growth  are  due  entirely  to  your  own  fostering 
care  and  years  of  labor  ? 

The  new  management  is  often  better  than  the  old, 
but  oftener  worse  ;  and  the  "  original  two  "  wish  they 
were  back  in  their  old  concern  under  the  old  firm 
name,  with  the  blessed  privilege  of  occupation  in  well- 
known  channels. 

*  *  *  *  I  can  mention  a  case  in  my  own  little 
State.  Three  men,  whom  I  will  name  after  their  re- 
spective trades,  F.,  B.  and  Af.,  as  Foundry-man,  Black- 
smith, and  Machinist,  combined  their  small  capital 
and  went  into  business  with  firm  name  as  above. 
They  all  worked  every  day  in  the  year,  and  they  all 
grew  rich.  Notwithstanding  the  increase  in  wealth 
they  still,  through  long  years,  gave  their  whole  time 
to  the  business — not  as  workmen,  of  course,  but  as 
skilled  business  managers,  for  their  years  of  success- 
ful experience  had  given  them  great  ability  as  bust- 
ness  men.  Each  haa  his  department  :• — production, 
finance,  sales.  From  young  mechanics  they  had 
grown  to  gray -headed  business  men,  powers  in  their 
community,  loved  and  respected  by  all.  The  legiti- 
mate growth  of  their  establishment  they  were  able  to 
foster  and  father,  and  their  prosperity  was  such  as  is 
due  to  unflagging  attention  and  honest  motive. 

But  the  demon  came,  and  taking  them  upon  the 
pinacle  of  their  highest  chimney,  seductively  charmed 
them  with  visions  of  further  extension,  extensions  be- 
yond their  own  means,  but  extensions  warranted  by 
the  growing  condition  of  the  business.  Say  the  word, 


74       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

and  unlimited  capital  would  aid  them,  and  unlimited 
scope  of  action  could  be  given  to  their  concern.-  They 
hesitated  and  were  lost.  They  said  the  word,  and  the 
tempter  himself  took  to  the  capital  city  the  death  war- 
rant which  made  the  F.t  B.  and  M.  Machine  Company  an 
incorporated  concern,  as  provided  for  by  the  act,  etc. 
The  tempter  brought  back  the  document  with  the  sec- 
retary's sign-manual  and  the  State's  great  seal  at- 
tached. This  was  the  document  destined  to  destroy 
the  bonds  which  bound  the  three  creators  to  their  life's 
creation. 

The  certificates  of  stock,  with  a  soaring  eagle  in  the 
center  flanked  by  portable  engines  and  threshing  ma- 
chines, were  engraved,  engrossed  and  eagerly  pur- 
chased by  friends.  At  the  election  we  find  F.,  Presi- 
dent, B.,  Secretary,  and  M.,  Treasurer.  They  manage 
the  business  as  usual  and  see  no  darkness.  The  busi- 
ness prospers  and  election  day  returns,  and  B.  finds 
himself  an  outside  stock  holder,  with  profits  and  no 
duties.  The  new  man  becomes  an  honest  element  of 
dissension  and  makes  honest  trouble,  so  the  stock- 
holders elect  another  president  from  without  to  aid 
him.  There  is  less  dissension  now,  and  a  new  election 
makes  M.  vice-president,  with  a  salary  of  $3,000  and 
no  duties.  The  by-laws  gives  him  no  voice  in  the 
management.  His  old  colleagues  are  worse  off  than 
himself,  but  are  stronger  men  and  can  stand  it.  All 
the  old  avenues  of  his  life  are  closed,  and  he  finds 
that  he  has  not  been  working  all  these  years  for 
money,  but  for  occupation.  That  occupation  is  gone. 
He  must  not  open  his  head  on  the  premises  of  the 
incorporated  company.  He  prays  for  duties  and  oc- 
cupation and  is  told  to  have  recourse  to  the  elegant 
leisure  of  the  rich. 

The  leopard  cannot  change  his  spots,  nor  can  the 
working  man  of  years  throw  off  the  active,  interested 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.        75 

habits  of  a  life.  He  tries  to  be  an  idle  wealthy  citizen 
and  fails.  He  broods  and  tosses  in  his  sleep  during 
all  his  waking  hours.  One  sunshiny  day  the  incor- 
porated company  found  the  body  of  their  vice-presi- 
dent in  their  pattern  loft  with  a  bullet  through  his 
brain,  and  in  his  private  drawer  in  the  safe  they  find 
this  scrawl,  "  My  usefulness  and  occupation  in  life  are 
gone." 

There  are  no  such  words  in  the  act  providing  for 
the  incorporation  of  stock  companies  under  the  laws 
of  the  State. 

*  *  *  *  You  remember  that  I  showed  you,  not 
long  ago,  a  machine  in  Sackett's  office,  a  mechanical 
time-keeper  of  men's  work.  This  machine  keeps  the 
time  of  200  men,  shows  when  they  went  to  work,  and 
when  they  quit  ;  and,  by  the  way,  if  I  can  find  time 
soon,  I  will  send  you  a  full  description  of  this  thing 
with  illustrations.  Well,  this  machine  was  gotten  up  by 
Quirk,  who  is  one  of  those  masterly  designers  who  has 
all  of  the  orthodox  mechanical  movements  at  his  fingers' 
ends.  He  governs  himself  by  the  ethics  of  design, 
and  deals  only  in  pure  mechanurgy.  He  wrestled 
with  this  machine  many  a  long  month,  and  succeeded 
famously. 

When  a  workman  bows  before  the  machine  it  must 
record  his  name  or  number,  the  hour  of  his  appear- 
ance, the  day,  the  month,  the  year,  and  this  it  must  do 
with  accuracy. 

Quirk  got  along  all  right  till  he  came  to  the  devices 
for  dealing  with  the  days  in  the  month.  Thirty  days 
in  one  month,  thirty-one  in  another,  and  twenty-eight 
in  another,  with  a  variation  of  a  day  every  few  years. 
He  worried  over  the  thing,  piled  detail  on  detail,  and 
complicated  movement  on  complicated  movement,  till 
the  desired  result  was  accomplished. 

When   completed,   the   movement   was   a   thing   to 


76  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

stand  before,  with  awe  and  wonder  at  the  immense 
amount  of  skill  and  judgment  which  had  been  used 
up  in  its  design,  and  the  vast  sums  of  money  expended 
in  its  construction. 

*  *     *     *     Quirk  did    this   awe-and-wonder  busi- 
ness  for  a  time,  and  then  it  occurred  to  him  that  a 
common  calendar  clock  had  to  do  just  what  this  ex- 
asperating  part  of  his  machine  had  to  do,  and  that  it 
would  be  a  good  idea  to  look  inside  of  one.     He  did 
so,  and  wished  he  hadn't.     A  single  little  insignificant 
piece   of  brass,  not   worth    ten   cents,    did  the   whole 
thing.     In  meek  humility,  he  bought  a  clock  for  ten 
dollars,    and   with   it   replaced    hundreds   of     dollars 
worth  of  his  tangled  complex  machinery. 

*  *     *     *     Here  is  a  sum   in  arithmetic  for  you. 
The  case  actually  presented  itself  in   Hunter's  shop, 
and   was  the   cause   of    much  contention.      Hunter's 
foundry  accounts  are  kept  by  themselves  ;  debit  every- 
thing in  the  way  of  stock,  sand,  coal,  labor,  power,  in- 
surance, &c.,  which  goes  into  the  foundry,  and  credit 
it  by  the  number  of  pounds  of  castings  coming  out.  At 
the  end  of  a  year,  the  book  showed  that  the  castings  cost 
3%  cents  per  pound.     At  that  price  the  foundry  made 
no  money  and  lost  none.     In  short,  Hunter's  castings 
cost  3^  cents.     His  foundry  pays  one  cent  for  heavy 
scrap.     He  got  a  piece  weighing  4,000  pounds  into  the 
machine  shop,  found  it  was  wrong  and  had  to  be  broken 
up,  and  a  new  one  made  in  its  place.    Question  :  What 
was  Hunter's  loss  on  the  blunder  ?    Sackett,  whose  shop 
is  just  across  the  street,  sells  heavy  castings  at  2^  cents. 
You  will  find  knots  in  this  thing. 

*  *     *     *     j  have  a  legal  question  to  put,  and  hope 
shop  owners  will  feel  called  upon  to  express  themselves 
and  cite  some  case  in  court  which  might  settle  the 
question.     A  man  came  to  Hunter  to  have  a  machine 
built,  and  asked  Hunter  what  he  would  do  it  for.  Hun- 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  7  7 

ter  said  he  would  not  contract  for  the  machine,  and 
would  only  do  it  by  the  day.  Five  dollars  per  day  for 
the  work,  and  four  cents  a  pound  for  all  material.  The 
man  said  he  didn't  object,  but  he  wanted  to  know  ap- 
proximately what  the  thing  would  cost,  so  as  to  know 
whether  he  could  ever  pay  for  it  or  not.  He  only  had 
s'i  much  money  at  his  disposal.  Hunter  figured  the 
thing  up,  and  wrote  that  he  thought  it  would  come  to 
somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  dollars.  The  man  said  "  Go  ahead  on  $5  per 
day  and  4  cents  per  pound."  When  the  machine  was 
done,  Hunter  sent  in  an  itemized  bill  for  seven  hundred 
dollars.  Man  kicked,  they  quarreled  and  kicked  over 
the  thing,  and  finally  came  together  in  my  place.  They 
asked  my  advice.  I  told  Hunter  to  sue  the  man  for  the 
amount  of  the  bill,  and  told  the  man  to  get  somebody 
else  to  build  a  machine,  and  to  sue  Hunter  for  damages 
caused  by  delay.  I  am  a  peacemaker,  you  know,  and 
try  to  straighten  everything  left  to  me. 

But,  honestly,  what  effect  is  a  man's  preliminary  es- 
timate and  representation  to  have  on  his  bill  ?  This 
question  comes  up  frequently,  and  there  should  be  some- 
thing known  about  the  legal  status  of  the  matter.  A 
customer  frequently  orders  a  thing  on  the  supposition 
that  his  party  can  figure  somewhere  near  the  cost  of 
the  job.  In  the  above  case  Hunter  was  a  little  "off," 
and  the  man  would  never  have  gone  into  the  thing  at 
any  such  figures  as  the  actual  time  brought  out. 

*  *  *  *  Another  question  j  When  Smith  orders 
a  job  of  Hunter,  and  Hunter  charges  Smith  with  the 
cost  of  the  patterns,  who  is  the  owner  of  the  patterns  ? 
It's  a  common  question. 

You  get  a  photographer  to  make  a  negative  of  a  ma- 
chine, pay  his  expenses,  and  pay  him  ten  dollars  for 
making  the  negative,  and  he  says  the  negative  belongs 
to  him.  He  will  let  you  have  prints  at  a  certain  price, 


78  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

but  will  not  deliver  the  negative.  There  is  no  known 
way  of  getting  a  negative  out  of  a  photographer,  except 
with  a  club.  Bone  had  over  a  hundred  negatives  of 
woodworking  machinery,  or  thought  he  had,  but  when 
he  tried  to  change  printers,  the  music  began.  If  I  re- 
member rightly,  the  law  failed  to  bring  the  negatives 
and  the  matter  had  to  be  compromised. 

Pope  had  a  similar  experience.  He  thought  he  owned 
fifty  negatives  of  steam  pumps,  but,  the  first  thing  he 
knew,  his  artist  had  sold  the  things,  and  the  purchaser 
was  soliciting  his  orders  for  prints  from  them.  If  an 
artist  would  make  no  charge  for  negatives,  I  do  not 
think  the  ownership  would  be  a  matter  to  question  ; 
but  when  the  thing  is  ordered  and  paid  for,  and  noth- 
ing said  about  prints,  it  seems  to  me  they  should  belong 
to  the  man  who  pays  for  them. 

*  *  *  *  j  never  saw  a  man  who  had  taken  a  de- 
gree seeking  information  from  another  man.  He  al- 
ways wishes  to  impart.  The  master  mechanic  keeps 
mum,  and  is  always  looking  for  the  man  who  knows. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  79 


CHAPTER    X. 

ALTERING  DETAILS  TO.  SUIT  CUSTOMERS. JOURNAL  BOXES 

AND    HOW     TO     PLACE     THEM. FEAR    OF     ADVERTISING 

SOMEBODY. 

*  *     *     *     I    once  gave  you    a  single  strain  from 
Sackett's  song  about  the   man    who  wanted  changes 
made  in  a  machine  which  Sackett  had  made  for  years, 
and  which  the   man  had  never  seen.     Dividing  boxes 
of  running  journals  was  the  burden  of  the  song.     Now 
I  am  made  to  sing  myself.    I  designed  an  iron-working 
machine  for  the  Tubal  works  some  years  ago.      They 
sold  a  hundred  of  them,  and  this  week  they  send  me  a 
letter  from  a  prospective  purchaser  who  is  horrified  to 
find,  by  inspecting  one  in  a  neighboring  city,  that  sun- 
diy  shafts  of  the  machine  run  in  boxes  bored  from  the 
solid,  and  having  no  caps  to  take  up  wear.     My  only 
reply  to  my  old  patrons  is  to  clip  Sackett's  music  from 
an  old  AMERICAN  MACHINIST,  and  enclose  it  to  them. 

*  *     *     *     i  am  now  disposed  to  express  my  views 
on  the  box  question.     I  will  illustrate  my  sermon  by 
assuming  that  I  am  called  upon  to  design   and  con- 
struct  a  grindstone   frame,   and    that  circumstances, 
over  which  I  have  no  control,  force  me  to  construct 
the  frame  of  green  timber.     While  scheming  upon  the 
parts,  I  arrive  at  the  journal  boxes.     What  shall  they 
be  made  of,  and  shall  they  have  adjustable  caps  ?   First, 
as  to  the  material.     I  know  that  a  cast  iron  box  bored 
out  is  the  cheapest,  and  I  know  that  the  steel  shaft  will 
run   in  the  cast  iron  box,  and  outwear  ten   babbitted 
ones. 

But  I  know  the  latter  to  hold  good  only  so  long  as 
the  shaft  has  a  fair  bearing  in  the  box,  and  I  know  that 
Hank,  or  Chris,  or  Jim,  or  Bill,  in  building  the  rig,  will 
not  get  the  boxes  in  line,  but  will  quit  the  job  as  soon 


80  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL S     LETTERS. 

as  he  can  turn  the  shaft  in  the  boxes;  and  I  also  know, 
that  if  the  boxes  were  in  perfect  line  they  would  only 
stay  so  as  long  as  the  green  wood  frame  allowed  them 
to.  Furthermore,  I  know  that  a  cat-a-cornered  cast  iron 
box  will  cut  the  shaft  and  ruin  it.  If  there  is  going  to 
be  any  damage  done  I  want  it  done  to  the  boxes, 
because  they  are  cheaper  to  replace  than  the  shaft.  I 
am  constrained  to  abandon  cast  iron  for  the  boxes  and 
substitute  a  babbitted  box.  I  now  say  that,  under 
equally  favorable  circumstances,  the  babbitt  boxes  will 
have  to  be  rebuilt  ten  times  as  often  as  the  cast  iron, 
but  that  under  unfavorable  circumstances,  known  to 
exist,  the  shaft  will  last  longer  than  with  cast  iron 
boxes,  and  that  the  boxes  stand  an  equal  chance  of 
life.  I  am  forced  by  circumstances  to  use  babbitt 
on  account  of  its  yielding,  accommodating  nature. 
Having  decided  upon  babbitting  the  boxes,  I  quickly 
decide  to  put  caps  to  the  boxes  for  two  reasons.  First, 
they  are  easier  to  babbitt;  and,  second,  they  allow  the 
stone  to  be  lifted  out.  I  never  dream  of  using  these 
caps  to  make  the  boxes  wear  longer. 

My  grindstone  has  thus  got  babbitted  boxes  with 
caps  and,  as  in  the  present  case,  fitly  associated 
with  a  green  oak  frame. 

So  much  for  circumstances  beyond  my  control.  But 
suppose  T  am  at  liberty  to  control  these  circumstances 
myself,  or  that  a  cast  iron  frame  in  one  piece  is  called 
for.  I  see  fit  to  bolt  the  boxes  down  to  seats  on  the 
frame  casting.  Shall  I  use  the  same  boxes  I  uced  on 
the  oak  frame  ?  I  study  over  it.  I  went  to  the  ex- 
pense of  babbitt  boxes  on  the  oak  frame,  in  order  to 
guard  against  bad  setting  and  inevitable  shrinking. 
On  account  of  this  durability  I  want  the  cast  iron 
boxes  if  they  are  equal  in  other  particulars. 

First,  I  will  see  about  the  setting.  If  I  leave  the  work 
to  Hank's  judgment  he  will  choose  between  two  plans. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORD  AL*S    LETTERS.  8 1 

He  will  bore  the  cast  iron  boxes  and  accurately  dress 
their  bottoms,  then  he  will  dress  the  scats  and  line  up 
the  boxes,  only  he  won't.  He  will  do  just  as  he  did 
with  the  oak  frame,  and  leave  the  boxes  as  soon  as  he 
can  turn  the  shaft;  then  they  will  not  be  in  good  trim, 
and  will  cut  the  shaft,  and  my  reputation  as  a  designer 
of  grindstone  mountings  will  collapse.  Hank  has  a 
second  chance.  He  will  bolt  the  boxes  down  hap- 
hazard, but  rigidly,  and  bore  them  together.  By  the 
other  plan,  he  did  two  accurate  or  nice  pieces  of  work, 
and  made  a  bad  job,  while  this  way  he  docs  no  skillful 
work  and  makes  a  good  job.  Of  the  two  plans,  the 
!ast  is  fully  fifty  per  cent,  cheaper,  and  my  reputation 
still  stands  a  chance.  Desiring-  cast  iron  boxes,  can  I 
object  to  them  now?  They  are  in  line,  for  they  were 
bored  at  once,  and  they  can't  get  out  of  line,  for  they 
can't  be  bolted  down  out  of  line;  they  are  not  only  in 
line  but  awkwardness  cannot  get  them  out  of  line.  I 
feel  satisfied  that  all  objections  existing  against  iron 
boxes  on  the  oak  frame  disappear  in  the  present  case. 
I  have  a  shaft  with  a  good  bearing  in  iron  boxes,  and 
the  bearing  will  remain  good,  and  the  boxes  will  remain 
cast  iron.  In  the  case  of  babbitt  boxes,  the  babbitt  soon 
wore  down,  and  exposed  the  cast  iron  ledges  at  the 
ends  of  the  boxes.  These  soon  cut  into  the  shaft, 
unfit  it  for  a  new  babbitt  box,  or  any  other  kind  of  a 
box. 

I  am  satisfied  that  in  the  present  case  the  material 
of  my  boxes  is  all  right. 

In  the  oak  frame  case  there  were  bad  conditions, 
and  babbitt  had  to  be  used  with  regret.  In  the  present 
case,  the  conditions  are  happy  ones,  and  cast  iron  is  to 
be  used  with  satisfaction. 

Now  about  the  caps.  Caps  or  no  caps,  that  is  the 
question.  Why  did  I  cap  the  other  boxes?  To  take  up 
wear?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  Why  not  ?  Simply  because  I 


82       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 

don't  care  to  take  up  the  wear.  The  stone  would  run 
all  right  in  half  boxes  if  the  half  always  came  in  the 
right  place.  The  weight  of  the  stone  is  down,  and  the 
pull  of  the  belt  is,  or  may  be,  up,  and  the  belt-pull  may 
preponderate  over  the  weight,  so  I  desire  the  shaft  to 
find  a  bearing,  whichever  way  it  may  go.  The  grind- 
stone isn't  a  reciprocating  machine,  and  slack  in  the 
box  is  a  benefit  rather  than  a  damage,  for  it  is  evi- 
dence that  the  cap  is  not  acting  as  a  friction  brake  to 
consume  power  and  wear  the  shaft.  I  capped  the  other 
boxes  for  convenience  in  babbitting  and  in  lifting  the 
stone  out.  I  don't  babbitt  these  boxes  so  that  part 
of  the  "why"  is  settled.  As  for  lifting  the  stone  out, 
the  boxes  may  come  with  the  shaft.  With  the  old  rig 
this  would  not  have  been  permissible,  because  the 
boxes  were  delicately  located  in  place,  and  if  removed 
would  have  to  be  skillfully  replaced.  Now,  however, 
I  find  that  the  boxes  cannot  be  placed  wrong,  and 
that  they  may  come  off  with  the  shaft.  This  looks  as 
though  I  desired  boxes  without  caps,  and  that.  I  was 
not  seeking  reasons  for  and  against  them.  This  is  true. 
When  discussing  the  material  of  the  box,  I'was  urged 
to  use  cast  iron  on  account  of  its  durability,  and  w:is 
compelled  to  forego  it  for  other  reasons.  Now  I  desire 
to  have  the  box  without  caps  for  the  sake  of  durability, 
and  will  certainly  forego  solid  boxes  if  reason  dictates 
the  use  of  caps.  Solid  boxes  are  more  durable  than 
capped  boxes,  for  the  simple  reason  that  if  made  to 
fit,  they  will  stay  fit,  while  if  caps  are  used,  some  smart 
Aleck  will  be  forever  and  eternally  adjusting  them, 
and  they  will  never,  by  any  circumstance  of  good  luck, 
fit  right.  He  will  screw  the  caps  down  and  wear  my 
boxes  out  in  a  year.  I  want  them  to  last,  and  I  insure 
their  doing  so,  by  simply  putting  it  out  of  the  power  of 
officiousness  to  defeat  me. 

Some  men  have  a  passion  for  putting  a  cap  on  a  box 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  83 

without  regard  to  whether  the  box  is  subjected  to 
jumping  wear  or  to  steady,  uniform,  rotary  wear. 

This  is  my  law  based  on  experience  : 

For  simple  revolving  journals  on  light  or  heavy 
work,  a  box  without  a  cap  will  outwear  six  boxes  with 
caps.  This  outwear  assertion  refers  to  shaft  and  box 
alike.  Memorandum  :  There  are  a  hundred  geniuses 
in  the  country  trying  to  invent  a  loose  pulley  adjusta- 
ble for  wear.  When  they  succeed  in  doing  so,  loose 
pulleys  with  proper  length  of  hub  will  wear  out,  and 
not  till  then.  There  is  a  difference  between  "  cut  "  and 
''wear."  Tightening  a  cut  journal  will  ruin  it.  No 
man  ever  saw  a  cone  fit  on  a  lathe  worn  out  during 
the  lifetime  of  a  lathe.  Fortunately  there  is  no  way  of 
taking  up  wear  on  them.  No  man  ever  saw  a. lead 
screw  bearing  on  a  lathe  worn  out  unless  it  had  caps, 
in  which  case  he  never  saw  it  in  shape.  An  upright 
drill  spindle  running  in  a  something  which  can  be 
tightened  is  never  in  good  trim — it's  always  tight  or 
loose.  If  the  same  spindle  runs  in  a  solid  something, 
it  is  never  tight  or  loose.  It  is  just  right,  and  will 
ctay  so  as  long  as  the  other  organs  of  the  machine 
last.  • 

One  more  reference  as  to  adjustability.  I  will  make 
lathe  boxes  the  subject  of  a  homily  some  day,  but  I 
wish  now  to  call  attention  to  the  well-known  fact  that 
if  a  lathesman  is  silly  enough  to  have  filed  his  boxes 
open,  he  will  be  screwing  at  them  twenty  times  a  day, 
and  his  boxes  are  never  right.  If  he  has  the  joint  come 
metal  to  metal,  he  never  gives  them  a  thought  from 
week  to  week,  and  they  are  always  right.  If  his  work 
chatters,  he  never  grabs  his  tool  wrench  and  goes  fool- 
ing round  the  spindle  boxes,  for  he  knows  the  trouble 
is  somewhere  else. 

*  *  *  *  Have  you  ever  noticed  how  tenderly 
you  have  to  handle  mechanical  subjects,  to  avoid  ad- 


84  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORD  AL'S    LETTERS. 

vertising  somebody  ?  Did  it  ever  occur  to  you,  that  every 
step  which.the  world  has  lately  taken  in  adding  to  its 
wealth  and  happiness  is  generally  traceable  to  the  sys- 
tematic efforts  of  individuals  ?  Of  late  years,  the 
whole  world  has  organized  a  system  of  recognition  of 
its  benefactors.  This- recognition  has  taken  the  form 
of  a  limited  monopoly  for  the  inventor,  and  a  monopoly 
governed  by  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  foi 
the  producer.  How  can  progress  be  hinted  at  in  the 
mechanical  arts,  if  the  mention  of  names  is  improper  ? 
Must  a  man  blush  because,  inadvertently,  he  intimates 
the  existence  of  a  benefactor  when  he  descants  on  a 
benefit  ?  Surely  we  may  talk  of  wgrk  done,  and  not 
blush  that  the  worker  gains  by  it.  We  may  do  this 
without  sinking  to  the  low  vulgarity  of  the  finer  arts, 
in  which  the  merit  of  the  product  becomes  of  less  sig- 
nificance than  the  name  of  the  producer. 

The  most  excellent  book  I  have  ever  seen  on  valve 
motions  contains  hardly  a  word  regarding  those  mo- 
tions which  form  the  basis  of  the  commendable  sys- 
tems. With  the  utmost  respect  for  the  author,  I  wish 
to  enter  my  earnest  protest  against  mistaken  delicacy 
of  this  kind. 

*  *  *  Some  man  makes  money  out  of  every 
changing  emotion  of  his  fellow  man.  There  is  no  vo- 
cation on  earth,  which  is  not  founded  on  the  tastes 
and  opinions  and  requirements  of  men.  How  idle, 
then,  to  withhold  information,  because  somebody  will 
make  by  it.  The  managing  editor  of  one  of  the  most 
enterprising  daily  papers  in  the  country  said  to  one 
of  his  reporters  last  week  :  "That  thing  would  be  an 
appreciative  piece  of  news,  but  I  don't  see  how  to 
counteract  the  gratuitous  advertising  it  would  result 
in." 

*  *  *  *  Many  of  our  standard  works  on  me- 
chanical subjects  seem  to  have  been  based  on  the  in- 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.       85 

tention  of  pointing  out  progress  in  the  arts,  without 
touching  on  anything  under  seventeen  years  old, 
which  is  the  term  of  life  of  an  American  patent. 

*  *  *  *  This  reminds  me  of  the  fact  that  Fet- 
lock, a  builder  of  machinists'  tools  from  other  people's 
patterns,  lately  laid  down  a  copy  of  the  AMERICAN 
MACHINIST,  and  asked  :  "  Who  is  the  Chordal  who  is 
always  advertising  Brown  &  Sharpe  and  those  other 
men  ?"  And  this  again  reminds  me  that  Chordal  is  a 
machinist  keenly  appreciative  of  all  that  is  better  and 
more  useful  in  connection  with  his  craft  ;  a  machinist 
who,  as  long  as  he  lives,  will  be  alive  to  the  importance 
and  position  of  such  leaders  as  by  their  skill  and  en- 
ergy develop  products  which  help  us  forward  in  the 
age,  and  which  give  us  the  second  blade  of  grass  ;  and 
a  machinist  who  will  be  the  first  to  observe  and  the 
first  to  welcome  the  tenderest  shoot  which  may  spring 
from  a  seed  planted  and  nourished  by  Fetlock. 


86       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

EMERY    WHEELS    IN     THE     SHOP. AN     EMERY-WHEEL    MAN 

WANTED. CHARLEY      AS       THE       CHAMPION      OILER. A 

MECHANICAL  TIME-KEEPER. 

*  *  *  Emery  wheels  do  not  get  justice  in  the 
shop.  The  common  plan  is  to  rig  up  some  outlandish 
kitchen-table  affair  with  an  illy-proportioned  arbor, 
and  to  put  an  emery  wheel  on  it  and  say  the  shop  is 
fixed  for  grinding.  The  whole  arrangement  is  put  off 
in  some  place  where  castings  get  piled  in  front  of  it, 
and  where  no  man  is  going  to  climb  if  he  can  help  it. 
Keeping  the  thing  in  order  is  nobody's  business,  and 
soon  the  affair  falls  into  disrepute.  So  does  any  other 
machine  treated  in  the  same  way.  Let  a  planer  be  a 
public  tool  and  soon  it  will  be  a  wretched  tool,  and  be 
shunned  as  the  emery  wheels  are.  But  the  worst  is 
not  told.  The  truth  is,  nobody  in  the  shop  knows  how 
to  get  good  results  out  of  the  thing,  and  it  is  looked 
upon  as  simply  one  kind  of  a  grindstone,  which  don't 
throw  mud  and  water,  and  is  nice  to  touch  a  piece  of 
iron  on  once  in  a  while.  There  is  no  little  arrangement 
in  the  shop  which  will  so  well  repay  investment,  and 
which  will  so  well  justify  care  in  selecting  both  the 
machine  and  its  operator.  There  are  a-thousand-and- 
one  little  things  turning  up  every  day  which  a  keen-eyed 
foreman  will  see  are  fit  subjects  for  emery-wheel  oper- 
ations. I  don't  mean  in  a  manufacturing  business,  but 
in  a  simon-pure  machine  shop,  where  you  don't  know 
what's  coming  next.  Vise  work  can  often  be  surfaced 
all  over  to  remove  scale.  Often  it  can  be  surfaced  and 
polished  and  the  vise  work  left  off.  Often  it  can  follow 
vise  work,  and  do  the  polishing,  and  often  it  can  be 
used  simply  to  remove  metal  and  change  the  shape  or 
dimensions  of  a  .piece.  All  of  these  things,  it  will  be 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAb'S  LETTERS.        87 

seen,  are  common  operations  performed  in  a  manner 
not  usual  in  the  shop.  But  one  thing  must  be  remem- 
bered. A  machinist  cannot  do  this  work  on  emery 
wheels.  That  is,  he  cannot  take  a  job  from  his  vise 
and  finish  it  on  an  emery  wheel.  Why?  First,  because, 
as  before  mentioned,  the  emery  rig  being  everybody's 
care  is  nobody's  care  and  isn't  in  order  ;  and,  second, 
the  machinist  never  gets  the  swing  of  emery  wheelc. 
He  will  file  up  a  hex  nut  all  right,  but  will  ruin  it  on 
an  emery  wheel.  He  can  chip  scale  off  work  and  file 
it  afterwards,  but  if  he  tries  to  scale  it  on  a  wheel  he 
gets  it  hot,  burns  his  fingers,  ruins  a  wheel,  and  glazes 
his  work  so  a  file  won't  touch  it. 

As  far  as  shaping  a  piece  of  curved  work  on  an 
emery  wheel  is  concerned,  he  might  as  well  try  to  fly. 
He  will  put  a  thousand  cat  faces  on  it,  and  take  away 
all  the  delicacy  of  shape  the  thing  ever  had.  He  tries 
to  shape  up  a  cutting  tool  ;  he  turns  it  blue  and  wears 
it  out  in  filaments  which,  when  removed  by  some  other 
process,  show  that  the  apparent  form  was  decidedly 
deceptive.  Don't  try  to  mix  machinists  and  emery 
wheels  ;  they  will  ruin  and  corrupt  each  other.  But 
they  can  get  along  splendidly  if  they  are  not  mixed. 
Step  into  a  hardware  factory.  Notice  a  man  finishing 
a  common  carpenter's  brace.  Take  one  of  the  rough 
braces  home  and  set  your  best  vise-man  to  finishing  it. 
Note  the  time,  and  the  shape  he  leaves,  and  the  thing 
he  calls  polish. 

The  man  we  are  watching  has  a  couple  of  emery 
belts  and  a  couple  of  wheels,  may  be  a  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars'  worth  of  tools  altogether.  With  these 
and  his  skill  he  works  on  any  shape  you  bring  him. 
If  a  drop-forging,  like  the  braces,  he  roughs  and  fin- 
ishes and  polishes  and  loses  no  little  detail  of  the 
original  nicely  rounded  and  purely  outlined  form.  If 
he  finds  a  bad  spot  he  goes  deeper,  but  blends  the  flat 


88  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

till  it  is  invisible.     His  polish  is  real  polish,  whatever 
may  be  said  against  it,  and   is  the  same  all  over,  while 
a  vise-man's  polish  is  o.  K.  where  it  is  easy  to  get  at  it 
and   do   it,   but   slouchy  where   the   kinks   are.     The 
emery-wheel  man  can't  file  a  finish  on  a  job.     Why? 
Because  he  don't  know  how  ;  he  never  learned  ;  has  a 
trade  of    his  own.     Same  with    the   vise-man.     What 
does  this  lead  to  ?     This  :     Look  around  the  shop  and 
see  how  much  of  your  work  is  similar  in  shape  to  what 
you  see  in  the  market,  but  far  inferior  in  character  of 
surface  and  superior  in  cost,  and  ask  yourself  if  there 
isn't  some  art  which  is  not  represented  in  the  shop,  and 
which  should  be  represented.    If  you  find  considerable 
such  work,  and  if  you  have  thirty  hands  in  the  shop,  you 
certainly  will  send  to  some  good  emery-wheel  concern, 
and  either  buy  from  them   or  get    drawings  for  the 
proper  rigs  adapted  to   your   work.     Let   them    send 
you  a  man   at  ten  per-cent  less  wages  than  you  pay 
the  general  run  of  lathesmen.     This  man  will  tell  you 
more  about  the  wheels  and  belts  you  want  than  your 
judgment  could  tell  in  a  year.     Set  him  to  work  the 
same  as  you  would  a  lathesman,  and  in   a  short  time 
you  will  find  that  you  pile  an  immense  quantity  of 
work  around  him  which  you  wonder  how  you  ever  got 
done    before.     Watch    the    man.     First,  there   is  his 
skill,   about  which  nothing   can  be  said,  except  that 
it  is  skill.     He  knows  how.     But  you  can  see  that  he 
keeps  a  different  sort  of  an  establishment  from  the  old 
one.     The  wheels  are  always  in  good  face,  and  they 
run    true,  and  the    arbors    are    heavy,  and   stiff,  and 
steady,  and    the    speeds    are    right,  and    a   wheel  is 
always  ready  for  business.     You  know  very  well  that 
bad  as  the  old  rig  was,  its  very  viciousness  was  often 
inaccessible,  because  the  belt  was  on  a  strike,  or  off 
the  pulley,  or  because  the  oiler  didn't  see  fit  to  keep 
the  countershaft  oiled. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL S    LETTERS.  9! 

*  *     *     *     Honestly    and  truly,  do  you    have   an 
oiler?   I  don't  mean  a  special  dignitary  with  a  sinecure, 
vulgo,  soft  thing,  but  some  man,  high  or  low  in  posi- 
tion, who    is  responsible  for    every  squeak    six   feet 
from  the  floor  ?     If  you  have  such  a  functionary,  does 
he   oil   countershafts,  etc.,    over   machines    having  a 
tender?     Some  shops  give  a  certain  laborer  the  oiling 
job,  but  expect  countershafts  to  be  oiled  by  the  man 
who  runs  the  machine   below  them.     This  is    a  bad 
plan.     It's   a   nasty  job   that  a   lathesman  don't  like, 
so  he   puts  it  off  as  long  as  things  will  run.     When 
he  does  it,  he  must  skirmish  around  for  ladders  and 
things,  and  all  the  time  a  valuable  man  and  machine 
are  idle.     Then  there  are   always  a   lot  of   machines 
around  a  shop   which  -are    not  run  regularly  by  one 
man.  They  are  run  by  everybody,  and  it  is  a  notorious 
fact,  that  everybody  won't  oil  anything  he  can't  reach- 
If  he  finds  something  high  up  on  a  drill-press  stuck 
for  lack  of  oil,  he  jumps  the  job  if  he  can,  and  waits 
for    somebody  else  to  fix   things   up.     It-  is  a  much 
better  plan  to  make  Charlie  oil  up  everything  in  the 
shop  which  is  higher  than  his  ear. 

*  *     *     *     I    send    an   illustration    of    the    time- 
keeping  machine   which    I  showed  you    in    Sackett's 
shop.     Whether  the  thing  is  to   be  recommended   or 
not,  it    is  certainly   an   excellent  illustration  of    one 
way    of    doing    things.      The   machine    is    intended 
to    save   labor    in    time-keeping,   but   has    no    refer- 
ence   to   detail   time-keeping    on    work.      As    shown 
in    the    illustration,    it   consists    of    a    time-keeper's 
desk,   and    furnishes    him   a   place  for   the  perform- 
ance  of   his   work,  and    for    the   deposit  of  his  pay 
books,    etc.     It  is  placed  against  the  wall,  past  which 
all   workmen    must   go   as    they   arrive    and   depart. 
There  is  a  hole  in  the  wall  exposing  two  slots  in  the 
deck  of  the  machine.     Underneath  this  deck  is  a  com- 


92  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S     LETTERS. 

partment  box  intermittently  revolved  by  clock-work. 
One  of  the  slots  in  the  deck  is  called  the  commenc- 
ing slot,  and  the  other  the  quitting  slot.  When  a 
workman  is  hired,  he  is  given  a  number  of  brass 
checks,  all  having  the  same  number  stamped  upon 
them.  This  number  is  the  book  number  of  that  man 
as  long  as  he  stays  in  the  shop.  By  this  number  he 
is  carried  on  all  the  books,  and  by  this  number  he 
gives  tool-room  receipts,  &c. 

The  time  book  to  be  used  with  this  machine  is  gotten 
up  as  follows,  the  first  vertical  column  being  for  the 
workman's  number: 


No. 

M. 

T. 

w. 

T. 

F. 

S. 

Total. 

13 

11 

5 

7 

2 

k 

S 

7 

14 

12 

8 

k 

k 

15 

11 

5       \ 

7 

~        \ 

k 

>    \ 

7 

Without  entering  into  any  description  of  the  mechan- 
ical details  of  the  device,  we  will  simply  refer  to  its 
plan  of  operations,  and  to  the  plan  of  booking  its 
work. 

We  will  assume  that  the  machine  is  being  used 
in  a  shop  working  ten  hours,  and  keeping  time  by  the 
hour.  The  cylinder  shown  in  the  illustration  has 
twelve  compartments,  or  pockets,  near  the  outer  edge, 
and  twelve  more  just  inside  the  circle  of  the  first 


EXTRACTS     FROM     CHORDAL/S    LETTERS.  93 

twelve.  The  deck  covers  all  these'  pockets,  and  the 
commencing  slot  is  always  over  one  outside  pocket, 
and  the  quitting  slot  over  one  inside  pocket  ;  there  is 
a  coiled  spring  under  the  desk,  which  tends  to  revolve 
the  cylinder.  A  pawl  hooking  into  notches  upon  the 
cylinder  prevents  rotation.  This,  pawl  is  attached  to 
the  works  of  a  calendar  clock  in  such  a  manner  that 
every  hour  the  pawl  will  lift  and  allow  the  cylinder  to 
turn  one  notch. 

At  six  in  the  morning  the  cylinder  is  in  such  a  posi- 
tion that  checks  dropped,  into  the  commencing  slot 
will  fall  into  what  we  may  call  the  seven  o'clock  pocket. 
The  cylinder  stands  this  way  for  an  hour,  or  till  two 
minutes  after  seven,  at  which  time  the  cylinder  brings 
the  eight  o'clock  pocket  under  the  commencing  slot) 
and  the  seven  o'clock  pocket  under  the  quitting  slot. 
In  an  hour  it  changes  again.  The  slots  thus  remain 
an  hour  over  each  pocket.  A  workman  may  deposit 
his  commencing  check  any  time  within  the  hour  before 
going  to  work,  and  has  two  minutes  margin  to  go  on 
after  time  is  up,  and  he  has  an  hour  in  which  to  de- 
posit quitting  checks.  The  machine  has  adjustments 
which  allow  the  intervals  to  be  set  to  suit  the  rules  of 
the  shop. 

The  time-keeper,  when  he  gets  down  to  work,  re- 
volves the  cylinder  by  hand,  and-pulls  drawers  out  of 
the  bottom,  showing  the  checks  in  the  properly-labeled 
pockets.  He  takes  the  checks  from  the  eleven  o'clock 
quitting  pocket,  for  instance,  and  finds  checks  Nos. 
13  and  15.  It  is  Monday,  and  he  finds  his  time-book, 
as  shown  above,  ruled  for  morning  and  afternoon  of 
each  day.  He  jots  down  n  for  Nos.  13  and  15,  and 
so  on. 

When  he  empties  the  seven  o'clock  commencing 
pocket,  he  finds  No.  13  and  15  there.  He  puts  seven 
under  the  quitting  figure  already  noted.  Afternoon 


94  EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAL  S   LETTERS. 

the   same.      He    subtracts   commencing  figures   from ' 
quitting  and  gets  the    hour's    time.     The    horizontal 
row  of  remainders  at  the  week's  end  gives  the  week's 
time. 

*  *  *  *  Several  shops  have  these  machines,  and 
all  have  the  same  experience  with  them.  The  men 
think  it  part  of  a  deep  laid  plan  to  get  a  full  day's 
work  out  of  them,  and  kick  accordingly.  It  is  some- 
times very  hard  to  explain  away,  but  the  fact  is,  the 
machine  is  not  calculated  in  any  way  to  correct 
evil  habits,  its  object  being  solely  to  lighten  the  time- 
clerk's  work,  and  to  make  the  workman  understand 
that  he  is  paid  from  a  time-book  of  his  own  posting. 

Herron,  working  four  hundred  men,  got  one  of 
these  things,  and  the  men  were  in  arms  at  once.  They 
wouldn't  have  it,  and  Herron  could  not  make  them 
see  the  thing  in  the  right  light,  so  out  it  came.  It 
is  a  good  thing,  in  a  way,  for  the  men  and  for  the 
proprietors. 

It  will  be  noticed,  in  the  illustration,  that  all  the 
men  are  of  one  kind,  and  it  may  be  a  matter  of  jus- 
tice to  state,  that  if  one  of  these  chaps  happened  to 
have  side-whiskers  or  even  no  whiskers  at  all,  the 
machine  would  record  his  time  all  the  same. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.  95 


CHAPTER    XII. 

SHOP     NOMENCLATURE. — SACKETT's     PLANER     ARRANGE- 
MENT.  MILLING  MACHINES  AND  YANKEE  "  TRAPPERY." 

A    CORE    DEVICE    FOR    FOUNDRIES. 

*  *  *  •*  If  a  German  in  an  American  shop  asks 
in  German  for  an  oil-can,  he  won't  be  apt  to  get  it,  and 
we  can  understand  why  ;  but  if  an  Englishman  asks 
in  English  shop-lingo  for  a  monkey-wrench,  two  things 
bother  us,  first,  what  he  wants,  and  second,  why  he 
don't  ask  for  what  he  wants,  instead  of  talking  about 
slide -spanners  and  screw-keys. 

We  would  be  bothered  still  more,  and  lose  a  little  of 
our  conceit  if  we  were  set  down  in  Crewe  or  Manches- 
ter shops.  There  is  really  something  comical  in  the 
difference  in  nomenclature  in  the  two  countries.  With 
the  English,  our  steady-rest  is  a  catch-plate,  and  our 
follow-rest,  a  back-stay.  Our  engine  lathe  is  their 
self-acting  lathe.  Wm.  Sellers  &  Company  have  ab- 
sorbed the  words  self-acting  and  back-stay  into  their 
work,  but  the  words  won't  stick,  after  the  machines  are 
out  of  the  shop.  Our  24-inch  swing-lathe  is  in  mother 
English  a  12-inch  centers  lathe.  The  word  "swing" 
is  certainly  wrong,  as  it  is  too  suggestive  of  radius, 
while  we  apply  it  to  diameter. 

Our  belt  is  with  them  a  strap  ;  our  shipper,  a  strap- 
shifting  apparatus,  and  our  Counter-shaft,  an  overhead 
driving  apparatus,  and  so  on,  forever.  Special  trades 
in  our  own  country  vary  abcut  as  much.  Men  brought 
up  in  railroad  shops  always  call  a  shaper  a  compound 
planer,  and  engine-slides,  of  any  description,  guide- 
bars.  But  the  worst  thing  the  railroad  machinist  is 
guilty  of  is  bringing  into  shops  such  words  as  "  six 
square  nuts,"  "  three  square  files,  etc."  He  has  often 
sent  cubs  running  around  among  the  round-house  men 


g6  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

after  circular  squares,  and  straight  hooks,  and  won- 
dered at  the  greenness  of  the  boy  in  supposing  for  an 
instant  that  there  are  such  things,  when  he  himself 
daily  uses  such  outrageous  words  as  "  bevel  square," 
"four-square  file,"  etc. 

We  have  in  this  country  four  names  for  a  connect- 
ing-rod :  main  rod,  connecting-rod,  pitman,  and  rod. 
Eccentric-rods  are  often  called  cam-rods  ;  cross-heads 
tee-heads  ;  and  safety-valve  weights  are  often  called 
Pees,  from  P  =  weight  in  the  equations,  I  suppose. 
The  crank-pin  with  some  becomes  a  wrist.  Of  course 
there  is  no  bigotry  in  the  use  of  any  of  these  terms, 
unless  they  are  unyieldingly  adhered  to. 

*  *  *  *  Sackett  has  got  a  planer  arrangement 
which  it  would  pay  any  one.  to  see  and  copy.  He  had 
a  good  forty-inch  planer,  and,  by  a  slight  additional 
investment,  he  has  arranged  the  thing  to  do  work  of 
any  size  whatever.  The  plan  is  well  known  in  large 
shops,  but  the  smaller  shops,  which  need  such  things 
the  most,  will  do  well  to  listen.  A  heavy,  slotted  plate 
is  planted  under  the  planer,  about  four  feet  ahead  of 
the  housings.  The  plate  is  about  five  by  fifteen  feet, 
and  sits  across  the  planer,  connecting  equally  on  each 
side.  It  is  truly  planed  on  top,  and  is  set  true  with 
the  planer  table,  and  bolted  to  the  planer  by  short 
legs  reaching  up.  It  is  simply  a  slotted  floor,  true 
with  the  planer  table.  He  has  a  heavy  knee  with  a 
broad  base  to  bolt  to  this  plate.  The  knee  is  practically 
a  planer  rail  set  upright  and  having  a  saddle,  etc., 
the  same  as  a  planer.  A  job  too  large  to  go  through 
the  housings  may  be  bolted  to  the  table  as  usual,  and 
operated  on  by  the  tool  in  this  knee;  and,  in  case  of 
extra  large  work,  the  job  may  be  bolted  to  the  plate, 
and  the  knee  bolted  to  the  planer  table.  The  knee  has 
hand-feeds  in  all  directions,  and  in  connection  with  this 
planer  will  do  the  best  of  work  on  any  sized  piece  which 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  97 

can  be  got  into  a  shop.  There  is  nothing  shaky  or  tem- 
porary about  the  affair,  and,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
it  is  as  good  as  a  planer  which  will  take  in  a  cathedral. 

****!£  there  is  any  one  shop  tool  to  which 
we  owe  the  national  pre  -  eminence  in  manufacture, 
which  we  brag  so  much  about,  more  than  to  any  other, 
it  is,  beyond  doubt,  the  milling  machine. 

The  universality  of  this  machine  has  been  developed 
entirely  in  this  country,  and  from  that  development 
have  sprung  manufacturing  possibilities  before  un- 
dreamed of.  But  there  is  no  machine  whose  virtues 
are  so  little  understood  outside  of  its  New  England 
home.  It  is  usual  for  all  large  shops  to  have  one  mill- 
ing machine,  and  if  you  ask  any  one  around  the 
premises,  from  the  owner  down  to  the  oiler,  what  that 
machine  is,  you  will  be  told  that  it  is  a  milling  ma- 
chine, and  that  it  is  used  for  fluting  taps,  and  reamers, 
and  such  things.  How  little  they  know  of  the 
latent  power  of  this  machine  to  produce  any  sort 
of  an  effect  on  any  metal,  and  to  reproduce  this 
effect  with  marvelous  uniformity !  As  a  jobbing 
machine,  its  virtue  lies  mostly  in  its  universal  adap- 
tation, but  in  manufacturing,  it  is  found  to  be  an 
unvarying  power  for  good.  It  is  nothing  but  a 
circular  saw  mill,  when  you  come  to  look  at  it,  but 
if  there  is  any  one  thing  in  the  shop  which  don't 
get  its  deserts,  it  is  the  circular  saw,  or  many-toothed 
cutter.  You  may  file  up  a  nice  shape  for  a  special 
lathe  tool,  but  you  will  find  it  dull  in  a  short  time, 
and  grinding  will  invariably  alter  the  shape.  Not  so 
with  the  milling  tool.  Its  sixty  teeth  distribute  the 
work  between  them,  not  all  doing  the  same  work, 
because  we  find  human  skill  fails  to  make  the  teeth  all 
bear  alike,  but  some  teeth  will  cut  deeper  than  others 
and  put  the  finishing  touch  on  the  job.  A  cutter  with 
sixty  teeth,  cutting  at  the  same  velocity  as  a  common 


98  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

tool,  will  generally  outwear  three  hundred  single  tools. 
An  attempt  to  cut  gearing  in  a  planer  will  generally 
let  light  in  on  the  real  merits  of  milling  operations. 

*  *     *     *     New  England  is  not  only  the  home  of 
the  milling  machine,  but  it  is  the  national  source  of 
real  happy  ingenuity.    .There  is  a  current  belief  that 
Yankee  design  runs  to  complexity  and  "trappery" — a 
belief  not  having  the  least  foundation,  in  fact.     When 
the  New  Englander  takes  it  into  his  head  to  revise  the 
work  of  mechanics  from  other  sections,  he  starts  new, 
discards   every   functional    device,  and    produces    the 
identical  result  with  much  simpler  mechanism. 

A  marvelous  gear  cutter  is  brought  to  our  notice, 
and,  upon  analyzing  the  machine,  we  must  admire 
the  perfection  of  every  detail,  the  life-like  action  of 
its  automatic  devices,  the  absolute  certainty  of  its 
operations,  and  the  masterly  manner  in  which  the 
whole  is  constructed.  But  we  look  in  vain  for  original 
detail,  or  novel  devices.  We  find  only  an  aggregation* 
of  well-known  elements  and  movements,  skillfully 
combined,  so  as  to  produce  a  novel  and  original  whole. 
We  are  impressed  with  the  idea  that  this  excellent 
machine  is,  in  reality,  a  combination  of  many  familiar 
machines  which  retain  their  personality,  even  in  their 
novel  position.  Our  New  England  mechanic  desires 
the  functions  of  this  machine,  but  does  not  take  to 
the  means.  He  designs  a  new  one,  discarding  every 
element  of  the  old  one,  and  produces  a  machine  which 
does  not  suggest  anything  we  have  ever  seen  before. 
His  machine  is  one  machine,  and  so  perplexingly  simple 
at  that,  that  we  wonder  where  the  devices  are.  We 
hunt  them  up,  and  find  that  each  movement  is  effected 
by  entirely  original  devices  of  extreme  simplicity  and 
perfect  action. 

*  *     *     *     One  peculiarity  of  New  England  design, 
or  construction  rather,  is   the  apparent  complexity, 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  99 

which  results  from  dividing  things  up  into  small  pieces. 
Massachusetts  planes  up  two  surfaces  and  bolts  pieces 
together,  while  Pennsylvania  casts  them  together,  and 
produces  a  smoother  exterior  and  greater  appearance 
of  general  simplicity. 

*  *  *  *  Sackett  has  a  little  arrangement  in  the 
foundry  which  captured  me  on  sight.  It  is  a  device 
for  making  common  round  cores,  from  one-half  inch 
to  three  inches  in  diameter.  Instead  of  making  a  car- 
load of  core  boxes  every  year,  he  made  a  set  of  com- 
mon boxes,  all  eighteen  inches  long,  and  for  all  diam- 
eters up  to  three  inches.  They  were  of  uniform  size 
outside.  Each  core  box  has  an  iron  plug  sliding  with- 
in it.  This  plug  is  cored  in  one  end  the  shape  of  the 
core  prints,  and,  by  the  way,  all  his  core  prints  are  of 
uniform  length  and  taper,  and  the  other  end  has  a 
three-eighths  hole  in  it.  The  core  bench  is  provided 
with  a  socket  in  which  any  of  the  core  boxes  will  stand 
upright  and  solid.  In  the  center  of  the  socket  slides 
a  graduated  rod,  on  the  upper  end  of  which  the  plugs 
will  fit.  If  his  coreman  wants  a  two-inch  core,  ten 
inches  long,  he  sets  the  rod  at  the  figure  ten,  puts  the 
two-inch  plug  on  its  upper  end,  and  sets  the  two-inch 
core  box  in  the  socket,  and  then  makes  the  core  as 
usual. 


100  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

TAKING    THINGS    ON    TRIAL. — STARTING    NEW    SHOPS    AND 
STARTING    NEW    TOOLS. — SHOP    ABLUTIONS. 

*  What  is  to  be  done  with  customers 
who  want  things  on  trial,  and  what  is  to  be  done 
with  parties  who  want  to  sell  us  stuff  on  trial  ?  Some 
classes  of  trade  have  arrived  at  that  stage  where  all 
sales  are  subject  to  trial.  Printers  not  only  don't 
pay  for  their  machines,  but  they  don't  order  them 
till  they  have  tried  them  a  month. 

The  whole  thing  is  wrong.  It  has  its  base  in  the 
fact  that  Tom  or  Dick,  after  getting  up  some  new  and 
really  valuable  machine,  goes  to  making  it  instead  of 
putting  it  into  the  hands  of  some  reputable  manu- 
facturers already  established.  As  a  consequence, 
purchasers  are  met  by  a  hundred  irresponsible  man- 
ufacturers offering  their  wares.  The  wares  are  what 
is  wanted,  if  they  will  act  as  represented  ;  but  the 
trouble  is  that  no  confidence  can  be  placed  in  the 
representation.  If  a  man  gets  up  a  good  machine, 
and  takes  it  to  a  concern  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  that  line  of  machines,  he  can  almost  always  receive 
fair  treatment.  If  the  machine  is  apparently  good 
and  wanted,  the  manufacturers  will  work  it  up  to  a 
success  as  a  machine,  and  will  put  it  on  the  market 
as  a  first-class  rig,  with  their  name  on  it.  Ten  per 
cent,  on  the  gross  receipts  is  a  fair  and  proper  royalty 
on  machines,  and  as  far  as  the  manufacturer's  profit, 
which  these  mushrooms  ache  over,  is  concerned,  bless 
them,  there  isn't  any.  I  can  go  to  five  hundred  prema- 
ture manufacturing  shops  in  the  country,  contract  to 
deliver  their  machines  five  per  cent,  less,  and  20  per 
cent,  better  than  they  are  building  them  ;  can  go  and 
sublet  the  job  to  real  manufacturers,  and  pocket 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  IOI 

more  money  than  twenty  of  the  small  concerns  make. 
And  more  than  that,  not  a  miller,  or  printer,  or 
thresher,  or  book-binder  will  ever  dare  to  ask  for 
thirty  days  or  thirty  minutes  trial  before  ordering. 
Imagine  Wm.  Sellers  &  Co.;  the  Pratt  &  Whitney 
Co. ;  John  T.  Noye  &  Son,  or  George  H.  Corliss,  ship- 
ping stuff  subject  to  order,  if  satisfactory  after  trial  ! 
Such  men  don't  experiment  at  the  cost  of  the  customer, 
and  don't  put  their  names  on  machines  not  known  to 
be  about  what  is  required.  The  customer  is  thus 
protected  against  good  things  put  upon  the  market 
prematurely.  Another  feature  is  that  trial  machines 
never  get  a  trial.  A  man  without  money-interest  in  a 
machine  will  not  investigate  enough  to  develop  the 
good  there  is  in  a  thing.  The  first  mishap  condemns 
the  whole  thing,  and  it  is  returned  as  a  failure,  while 
real  money-interest  would  refuse  to  believe  that  a 
machine  was  not  capable  of  doing  what  it  was  de- 
signed for. 

*  *  *  *  Wycoff  had  a  dozen  governors  sent  on 
trial.  They  came.  He  unboxed  one,  and  told  the 
boys  to  put  her  on  and  see  about  it.  They  did,  and 
saw  that  the  pulley  came  out  too  far  to  be  in  line 
with  the  pulley  on  the  engine  shaft.  They  took  the 
governor  off  and  threw  it  under  a  bench.  The  maker 
of  these  governors  can  correspond  with  W.  till  dooms- 
day, and  never  get  any  satisfaction.  When  he  orders 
the  governors  returned  he  will  get  them,  and  will 
wonder  what  kind  of  a  governor  trial  that  is  which 
never  lets  steam  into  the  governor.  If  W.  had  money 
in  those  governors,  it  would  have  been  on  judgment, 
and  they  would  have  had  a  fair  show. 

If  the  governors  had  had  a  responsible  man's  name 
on  them,  W.  would  not  have  abused  an  offer,  for  he 
would  not  have  had  it.  Inventors  should  be  protected 
as  well  as  purchasers. 


102  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

*  *  *  *  There's  no  joke  about  a  good  many 
machine  men  paying  themselves  more  for  their  pro- 
duct than  others  would  charge. 

If  the  future  of  a  product  is  established,  and  if  the 
projector  has  plenty  of  money,  there  is  no  doubt  but 
that  prudence  would  suggest  the  starting  of  a  factory 
arranged  expressly  for  the  specialty  in  hand.  He  has 
but  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  dollars  in  the  world,  and  is  a 
man  whose  services  are  in  demand  in  certain  branches. 
What  shall  he  do  with  his  immortal  invention?  He 
can  take  it  into  certain  localities  where  manufacture 
has  run  in  that  line,  and  can  contract  to  have  the 
thing  built  in  shops  equipped  with  a  world  of  special 
tools  adapted  to  the  line,  with  corps  of  workmen 
skilled  in  that  line;  and  with  market  facilities  of  years 
of  growth.  He  gets  his  machines  without  investing  a 
cent  in  manufacturing  facilities.  He  gets  them  made 
to  specification,  and  runs  no  risk.  If  he  sees  fit  to 
work  the  market  himself,  he  has  his  whole  means  as  a 
working  capital,  and  when  his  device  gives  way  to 
something  newer  or  better  he  quits,  with  his  profits 
in  cash,  and  his  manufacturers  are  where  they  started  ; 
that  is,  they  have  made  a  profit,  and  have  the  same 
plant  they  commenced  with. 

The  other  way  for  our  man  to  go  at  the  thing  is 
to  start  a  shop.  Work  close  financially,  and  work 
like  a  major  every  day,  and  use  up  three  years'  time 
getting  his  system  of  manufacture  reduced  to  a  science, 
and  then  his  money  is  gone,  and  he  is  ready  for  the 
market,  and  some  later  thing  has  been  in  the  market 
six  months.  It  is  certainly  a  fact  that  it  takes  three 
years  to  organize  a  factory,  so  a  thing  can  be  made 
as  economically  as  a  well-organized  concern  already 
existing  can  make  it.  Our  man's  small  pile  of  money 
won't  touch  such  a  thing,  and  he  has  to  let  outsiders 
in  to  share  the  profits  which  he  might  have  had  him- 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  103 

self,  if  he  had  let  the  factory  project  alone.  He  can 
contract  for  his  stuff,  go  into  the  market  at  once,  and 
come  out  winner,  and  quit  long  before  a  factory  can 
get  ready  to  build  a  thing  not  wanted  when  it  is  ready. 
The  factory  project  must  certainly  start  from  a  desire 
to  get  the  manufacturer's  as  well  as  the  factor's  profit ; 
but  I  think,  that  in  a  great  many  cases,  the  enormous 
expense  of  organization  will  by  far  overbalance  that 
little  thing  we  call  manufacturer's  profit,  a  thing  that 
in  many  cases  you  can  stick  in  your  eye  without 
damage  to  the  eye.  And  besides  that,  the  manufac- 
turer involves  a  host  of  officers  to  share  the  profit  if  it 
ever  comes.  The  question  is  :  Is  the  real  party's  net 
gain  as  much  under  a  manufacturing  system  as  under 
a  contract  system  ?  It's  a  big  lot  of  work  which  he 
must  do  for  nothing,  and  in  a  few  short  years  there 
is  one  more  idle  concern,  and  a  hundred  employes 
idle,  who  have  been  seduced  into  a  shop  which  never 
ought  to  have  been  started. 

*  *  *  *  With  all  the  originality  of  the  machine 
trade  in  this  country,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
too  often  the  inventor  finds  manufacturers  indifferent, 
and  is  forced  to  work  the  market  on  his  own  account. 
His  trifle  is  not  enough  to  justify  him,  but  would  be 
an  important  element  in  the  catalogue  of  an  old  con- 
cern. I  do  not  mean  to  charge  indifference  upon 
manufacturers  generally,  but  I  do  mean  to  say  that 
in  many  cases,  manufacturers  are  loth  to  touch  a 
thing'  which  originates  outside  their  own  premises. 
I  think  I  am  justified  in  saying  that  those  contriv- 
ances of  the  Gentiles,  which  by  their  apparent  merit 
lead  disinterested  manufacturers  to  espouse  them, 
are  almost  always  successes,  and  that  home-devised 
arrangements  can  never  be  freed  from  an  appearance 
of  selfish  prejudice,  which  detracts  from  the  force  of 
every  argument  advanced  in  their  favor.  I  never 


104       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

mind  setting  up  my  own  awkward  experiences  for 
the  benefit  of  others,  and  am  willing  to  stand  for  an 
illustration  of  my  text. 

Years  ago  I  was  out  continually  as  a  journeyman 
erecting  new  work,  in  most  cases  steam  machinery  in 
mills,  factories,  and  lead  mines.  Two  systems  of  pipes 
in  such  jobs  are  always  the  same,  to  wit :  the  supply 
pipe  from  well  to  supply  pump,  thence  to  tank  ;  and 
the  feed  pipe  from  tank  to  feed  pump,  thence  to  boiler. 
These  jobs  were  often  hundreds  of  miles  from  a  shop, 
and  the  outfit  of  tools  taken  along  was  often  taxed  to 
form  novel  combinations  of  original  tools.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  a  great  deal  of  judgment  had  to  be  used 
so  as  to  take  along  as  much  suitably  connected  piping 
as  possible.  The  exit  valve  for  the  tank  connection  of 
the  feed  pipe  was  one  of  those  pieces  always  taken. 
Every  country  machinist  knows  that  valve,  if  it  can  be 
called  a  valve.  It  must  be  built  up  out  of  a  piece  of 
pipe  having  a  long  thread,  a  tin-shop  strainer  soldered 
to  a  coupling  screwed  upon  one  end  ;  a  globe-valve 
and  elbow  and  nipples  screwed  to  the  other  end  ;  and 
thick  rubber  gaskets  and  specially  forged  lock  nuts 
run  upon  the  body.  With  such  a  rig  one  may  feel  pre- 
pared to  meet  a  tank  made  of  sheet  iron,  or  six-inch 
wooden  staves.  But  what  a  thing  that  is  to  have  to 
build  up  in  that  manner,  and  how  ugly  and  inefficient 
it  is  when  done!  The  valve  freezes  four  times  per  win- 
ter, and  a  new  one  must  be  put  on,  and  for  that  reason 
an  elbow  is  used  instead  of  an  angle  valve,  angle  valves 
being  hard  to  pick  up  in  a  hurry.  An  attempt  to  put 
the  valve  inside  the  tank  involves  trappy  and  unreli- 
able rods  to  work  it.  I  made  such  things  as  this  till  I 
got  sick  of  it.  I  found  them  entirely  too  expensive 
and  defective,  so  I  got  up  a  new  article  of  manufacture 
in  which  the  whole  thing  was  got  in  good  shape,  with 
the  valve  inside  the  tank  and  the  hand  wheel  outside. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.      IQ5 

It  had  a  downward  outlet  and  a  malleable  strainer  ~ 
the  body  malleable,  the  valve  brass,  and  long  brass 
nuts.  The  thing  could  be  sold  for  the  price  of  a  globe 
valve.  No  such  thing  could  be  made  in  a  machine 
shop,  so  I  opened  up  on  supply  manufacturers.  I 
tackled  the  best  men  in  the  country  with  my  sketch 
and  long  letters  detailing  its  merits.  They  all  thought 
it  very  nice  and  so  on,  but  did  not  remember  ever  hav- 
ing had  a  call  for  one.  A  fine  idea  !  Who  ever  had  a 
call  for  anything  of  that  character  before  he  put  it  on 
the  market?  Besides  that,  engine  men  know  what 
these  supply  men  make  just  as  well  as  they  do  them- 
selves, and  are  too  smart  to  order  a  thing  they  know 
isn't  made.  I  don't  put  in  any  tank  valves  to  speak  of 
now,  and,  of  course,  dropped  the  matter  when  I  could 
not  help  myself.  I  might  have  done  as  the  subjects  of 
my  discourse  do,  and  gone  into  their  manufacture.  I 
would  have  found  that  that  would  not  pay  alone,  so  I 
would  have  been  forced  into  staple  work.  My  capital, 
barely  sufficient  for  the  tank-valve  business,  would 
hardly  stand  the  stretch,  and,  as  a  consequence,  I  would 
soon  have  found  myself  trying  to  get  bread  and  butter 
out  of  an  imprudent  and  uncalled-for  competition.  In 
such  a  business,  I  could  continue  to  vitiate  prices  with- 
out vivifying  my  own  trade  in  the  least.  I  would  be 
simply  an  excrescence  upon  the  trade  and  my  best 
friends,  who,  if  they  cared  for  the  greatest  good  to  the 
greatest  number,  would,  in  such  case,  do  themselves 
credit  by  giving  me  the  coup  de  grace. 

*  *  •  *  *  There  are  certain  lines  of  trade  in  which 
a  demand  is  always  in  existence  without  finding  ex- 
pression. Known  requirements  or  needs  are  as  good 
as  imperative  demands  to  a  manufacturer.  That  in- 
ventor is  the  wisest  whose  invention  is  based  upon 
known  defects  in  present  systems  ;  and  the  progressive 
manufacturer  is  the  one  who  keeps  his  eyes  open  to 


io5          EXTRACTS  .FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

the  needs  as  well  as  the  wants  of  his  customers.  There 
are  limits  past  which  prudence  dictates  we  should  not 
go.  We  may  be  aware  of  the  need,  but  may  find  that 
a  missionary  bureau  is  required  to  apprise  the  public 
of  its  necessities.  Such  cases  always  connect  them- 
selves with  inventions  of  a  radical  character.  We  see 
many  things  upon  the  market,  meritorious  with- 
in themselves,  which  purchasers  never  would  have 
dreamed  of  asking  for.  but  long-headed  manufacturers, 
being  aware  of  actual  or  easily-made  apparent  needs, 
have  entered  into  projects  with  an  assurance  based  on 
good  judgment,  and  have  almost  always  succeeded. 
A  manufacturer  will  often  spend  years  in  trying  to  put 
some  device  of  his  own  upon  the  market,  when  his 
judgment  should  tell  him  that  his  views  are  bound  to 
be  prejudiced,  which  could  not  be  the  case  with  the 
purchased  invention  of  another. 

If  a  machinist  has  no  more  pride  about 
him  than  to  leave  the  shop  and  go  home  without  wash- 
ing or  taking  his  over-alls  off,  how  much  pride  can  he 
have  about  his  work  ?  Sackett  picks  a  man  up  every 
once  in  a  while,  as  he  starts  home,  and  tells  him  there 
is  water  on  tap  in  the  washroom.  If  a  proprietor  is 
smart,  he  will  provide  good  washing  facilities,  and  will 
have  them  kept  clean  by  a  laborer.  Some  of  these 
things  are  disgusting,  and  a  man  with  decent  tenden- 
cies finds  himself  compelled  to  furnish  a  bucket  for  his 
own  individual  use.  If  discipline  is  loose,  these  pails 
will  gradually  find  their  way  all  over  the  shop,  and 
every  man  will  wash  where  he  chooses,  and  throw  his 
water  over  all  the  bright  work  in  the  neighborhood. 
It  is  not  expecting  too  much  of  an  owner,  that  he 
should  keep  a  decent  washroom  while  he  is  keeping 
one.  I  question  whether  in  all  England  one  can  find  a 
shop  with  washing  facilities  in  it,  and  it  is  rarely  that 
men  wash  before  leaving  the  shop.  Such  a  plan  may 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  107 

work  over  there,  but  in  a  republic,  where  the  masses 
form  the  power  of  the  land,  the  decency  and  intelli- 
gence of  the  masses  must  be  provided  for,  and  are 
worth  ten  thousand  times  what  they  cost.  As  a  gen- 
eral rule,  American  workmen  never  go  home  before 
cleaning  up,  and  foreign  workmen  never  clean  up 
before  going  home.  A  workman  who  is  dirty  and 
slouchy  and  down-at-the-heel  all  over  as  he  leaves  the 
shop,  is  the  same  while  in  the  shop,  and  the  stuff  he 
sells  for  the  price  of  labor  is  not  generally  extra  super. 
The  finest  and  cheapest  work  done  in  this  country  is 
done  by  high-priced  men,  who  know  a  cuff  from  a  col- 
lar ;  and  the  coarsest  and  most  expensive  work  is  done 
by  men  who  have  no  soul  above  clothes  which  won't 
show  dirt.  I  can  take  you  into  sections  of  the  United 
States  where  the  shops  work  full  gangs  of  dirty  men, 
and  you  will  call  the  products  of  that  section  crude  or 
rough,  and  you  will  find  the  work  comparatively  ex- 
pensive. I  can  take  you  to  sections  where  the  hands 
are  neat  in  appearance,  where  you  can  always  distin- 
guish between  a  workman  and  a  blue  post  in  the  shop, 
and  their  work  has  astonished  the  world  by  its  marvel- 
ous refinement  of  accuracy  and  unaccountable  cheap- 
ness. I  could  send  you  photographs  of  typical  shops 
in  these  two  sections,  with  the  men  massed  in  front, 
one  crowd  of  eighty  men,  with  six  white  shirts  in  the 
crowd,  and  one  crowd  of  four  hundred  men  and  twenty 
dark  shirts,  and  with  the  photos  I  could  send  the 
heaven-bound  oaths  of  the  shop-owners,  that  the  men 
in  either  picture  didn't  have  their  Sunday  clothes  on. 


108  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

SHOPS  IN  THE  SKY. — VALUE  OF  TESTIMONIALS. — LOCATION 
OF    FACTORIES. — SELLING    AGENCIES. 

Many  heavy  old  concerns  have  died  the  natural 
death  of  American  shops,  and,  in  many  cases,  I  find 
some  short-sighted  men  trying  to  do  business  on  one 
of  these  old  reputations  ;  when  the  short  cut  would  be 
to  drop  the  name,  and  move  to  the  other  end  of  the 
city.  The  old  Niles  Works  in  Cincinnati  has  been 
dead  and  gone  for  years,  and  a  railroad  necessity  has 
compelled  the  condemnation  and  conversion  of  the 
old  premises.  The  Niles  Tool  Works,  which,  in 
reality,  first  started  business  right  under  the  nose 
of  the  Niles  Works,  is  an  entirely  different  concern, 
and  has  a  good  shop  at  Hamilton,  a  few  miles  out. 
When  I  saw  the  old  Niles  Works  building,  I  prayed 
that  more  railroads  might  some  day  cut  into  the 
city. 

*  *  *  Property  and  taxes  are  high  there,  and, 
as  in  all  other  such  places,  shops  move  upward  instead 
of  moving  outward.  At  J.  A.  Fay  &  Co.'s  they  have 
very  heavy  planers  running  in  the  high  stories  of  a 
high  shop.  Post  &  Co.'s  shops  were  in  the  sky,  and 
one  day  the  sky  part  got  afire.  They  poured  on  water 
till  the  fire  was  out,  but  the  water  staid  on  the  top 
floors.  The  firemen  went  home,  and  men  commenced 
to  straighten  things  up.  They  moved  the  machinery 
to  the  center  of  the  upper  floor,  and  found  that  the 
floor  would  not  hold  everything  up  at  once.  The 
floor  gave  way,  and  the  heavy  stuff  went  down  to  the 
next  floor,  then  through  that,  and  so  on  clear  to  the 
cellar.  I  don't  know  how  many  men  were  killed  by 
the  accident,  but  it  was  a  great  many.  The  value  of 
a  single  one  of  these  lives  would  have  put  up  clean, 


I  once  worked  in  a  shop  having  open  hatchways  through  the  center  of  the 
building.  *  *  *  *  Never  a  day  passed  but  something  came 
tumbling  down, — Page  HI. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  Ill 

roomy  works  outside  of   the  town,  where  men  would 
not  have  to  work  on  ladders. 

*  *     *     *     j  once  worked   in  a  shop  having  open 
hatchways   through    the  center   of    the   building,  no 
elevator,  mind   you,  but  simply  a  lot  of  holes  and  a 
hoisting  rope.     I    worked   on  the  engine  floor  on  the 
lowest  story,  nearly  under  the  hatchway,  and  never  a 
day  passed  but  something  came  tumbling  down  into 
the  space  supposed  to  be  reserved  for  my  operations. 
To-day  it  would  be  a  monkey-wrench,   to-morrow  an 
oil-can,  or  a    dinner  bucket,    or  a  lathe   chuck,  or  a 
portable   engine   cylinder,  or  an    apprentice,  or  most 
anything.     One  day  the  whole  back  wall  of  the  shop 
fell   in,  and    the  shop  quit  business  forever.     I  have 
always  been  thankful,  and  hope  all  the  walls  will  fall 
in  in  every  shop  having  hatchways  in  the  middle  of 
the  building. 

*  *     *     *     j    believe  that  the  Western    folks    are 
right  about  testimonials.     They  mean  nothing  what- 
ever, and,  in  most  cases,  are  a  fraud.     I  can  mention 
one  case  as  a  sample  of  a  dozen  within  my  knowledge. 
Horace  owned  the  Valley  Works,  and  Bill  worked  for 
him.     Bill  was  a  good  workman,  and  was  one  of  these 
men  who  were  good  in  a  pinch.    If  a  line-shaft  twisted 
off,  or  if  a  gate  broke  in  the  water  wheel,  or  if  a  crane 
broke  down,  or  if  a  cylinder-head  got  knocked  out,  Bill 
was  the  man  who  would  take  hold  and  put  forth  extra- 
ordinary energies  till  the  shop  got  going  again.     He 
was  a  valuable  man.     But  in  his  regular  work,  when 
work  piled  up  and  things  got  in  a  rush,  he  would  get 
on  a  drunk,  and,  aside  from  that,  he  was  the  meanest 
and  most  contemptible  whelp  that  ever  annoyed  a  lot 
of  workmen  by  his  presence.     Horace  put  up  with  it 
for  years,  but  one  day  discharged  Bill,  and  told  him  to 
go  to  the  devil  !    He  went,  but  one  day  came  back  and 
told  a  pitiful  story  about  home  matters  and  low  funds, 


112      EX1RACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 

etc.,  saying  that  some  little  letter,  you  know,  would 
get  him  a  good  place  ;  of  course  it  would.  Anything 
from  Horace  would  do  anything,  and  he  had  a  soft 
side,  so  he  wrote  the  stereotyped  letter,  bearing  testi- 
mony to  Bill's  good  qualities.  With  this  he  went  off  and 
imposed  himself  on  somebody,  who  soon  found  that 
Bill  was  a  fraud  and  Horace  a  soft  cheat. 

*  *  *  *  How  often  do  we  find  a  foreman  who  is 
laboring  under  the  belief  that  the  shop  will  break  up 
if  he  don't  continue  to  submit  to  some  evil  presence  in 
the  shop  ?  It  almost  always  takes  the  shape  of  some 
man,  who  has  been  in  the  shop  so  long  that  he  thinks, 
as  the  foreman  does,  that  the  shop  can't  exist  without 
him,;  so  he  gets  ugly  and  "  sassy,"  and  has  his  regular 
drunk  weeks  and  his  irregular  sober  ones.  His  work 
is  always  important,  and  a  foreman  should  never  de- 
lude himself  into  the  belief  that  there  is  only  one  man 
of  a  kind  made.  Barney  worked  for  George,  running 
gear  cutters  for  ten  years.  He  knew  every  little  trick 
of  the  machines,  knew  every  cutter  which  was  a  little 
off  and  not  to  be  used  on  nice  work,  etc.  He  had  his 
whiskey  weeks,  and  the  gear  cutters  had  their  idle 
weeks.  George  was  tender  to  all  men,  but  after  ten 
years'  cooking  he  boiled  over  and  kicke^L  Barney  out 
of  the  shop,  and  the  next  day  he  had  a  jbetter  man  on 
the  gear  cutters.  It  always  happens  that  way.  Wal- 
lace's slotter  hand  thought  he  was  King  of  the  Canni- 
bal Islands,  and  Wallace  thought  .so  too,  for  it  isn't 
easy  to  pick  up  a  good  slotter  hand  ;.  but  one  day,  after 
a  couple  of  years'  of  weak  suffering,  he  let  him  go, 
and  found  a  better  man  right  in;  the  shop.  Babbitt 
had  a  man  who  could  run  a  nice  cut  right  over  a  six- 
inch  shaft,  and  get  nice  work  out  in  a  hurry.  Man 
was  always  ugly,  and  Babbitt  always  afraid,  for  he 
had  seen  men  fail  on  that  lathe.  He  screwed  up  his 
courage  one  day  and  let  the  man  go,  and  put  a  smart 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  -1 13 

cub  in  his  place,  and  found  he  had  been  submitting  to 
an  unnecessary  evil. 

*  *     *     *     If  a  man  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  spool  thread,  or  nails,  or  hinges,  or  licorice  drops, 
it  don't  seem  to  make  much  difference  where  he  carries 
on  his  business.    He  never  sees  the  consumer  and  never 
sells  to  him.     His  product  is  sold  through  numerous 
middle  men,  and  probably  he  only  needs  two  or  three 
customers,  anyhow.      His  goods   are  staple  and  'ar'e 
ordered  by  name  and  grade.    A  ntan  wanting  a  dime's 
worth  of  lemon  drops  don't  question  into  the  manu- 
facturing facilities  of  the  several  manufacturers  before 
he  places  his  order.    He  don't  have  to  go  to  the  factory 
to  confer  as  to  the  advisability  of  the  adaptation  of 
certain  lemon  drops  to  his  special  maw.     He  don't  do 
anything,  but  go  and  buy  from  a  dealer,  who  bought 
from  a  dealer,  who  bought  from  a  dealer,  etc. 

The  manufacturer  of  lemon  drops  finds  that  he  can 
go  off  into  the  woods  and  squat  by  a  cheap  water- 
power,  and  a  sugar  mine,  and  a  coal  mine,  and  engage 
in  business,  and  actually  have  a  hundred  economic 
advantages  over  his  competitors  in  metropolitan  cen- 
ters. His  freights  are  a  trifle  more,  but  his  cheap 
water,  coal,  and  sugar,  will  far  overbalance  the  ac- 
count. His  traveler  takes  a  full  line  of  samples  in  a 
grip-sack,  and  the  cost  of  selling  is  no  greater  thaW'if 
he  were  in  a  city.  He  must,  of  necessity,  under  all 
circumstances,  sell  through  representatives  or  factors. 

*  *     *     *     Suppose  I  take  a  notion   to  envy  the 
man,  who  is  situated  among  the  hills  with  a  coal  mine 
in  his  front  yard,  and  a  water-power  in  his  back  yarc^ 
and  a  neighbor's  iron  pile  handy.     Suppose  I  mattu- 
facture  wood-working   machinery,  and    suppose  I  sit 
down  and  figure  up  how  much  I  can   save  on   power, 
fuel,  and   material  in  a  year.     Suppose  these  figures 
show  a  tip-top  income  in  themselves — should  I  pack 


114  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

up  and  move  into  this  district  myself  ?    Would  I  make 
any  money  by  it  ?     Would  I  lose  any  by  it  ? 

*  *     *     *     AS  a  builder  of  machinery,  I  would  find 
it  necessary  to  confer  with  at  least  one-third  of  my 
customers.     They  want  to  see  what  they  are  going  to 
buy  ;  they  want  to  see  the  shop,  and  they  want  to  see 
me.     I  travel  around,  and  find  men  have  bought  of 
others,  when  the  order  would  naturally  have  come  to 
me.      On   inquiry  and  protest,   I  am  told   that  "We 
didn't  have  time  to  go  away  up  there.     We  can't  step 
out  of  the  business-world  to  buy  things,"  etc.,  etc. 

*  *     *     *     Manufacturing   economies   may   some- 
times be  purchased  at  the  expense  of  business.     Go 
where  orders  can  be   filled  cheaply,  and  the   orders 
won't  come — not  always,  of  course,  but  often.     A  man 
who  wants  to  buy  a  three-hundred-dollar  machine  is 
willing  to  go  into  a  certain  district  and  investigate, 
but  he  is  unwilling  and  unable  to  go  all  over  the  coun- 
try, or  into  inaccessible  neighborhoods. 

*  *     *     *     If  a  man  has  a  factory  in  Boston,  he 
is  not  moving  out  of  reach  when  he  goes  to    Chelsea. 
If  in    New  York,  Newark   and    such    places    are    all 
right.     Chester   and   Wilmington    are'  the    same    to 
Philadelphia;  Hamilton  and  Dayton  the  same  to  Cin- 
cinnati.    But  when   a  man   moves  from  a  metropolis 
off  to  Smith's  side  track,  a  thousand  miles  from  any- 
where,  and  away  beyond  the   jumping-off  place,   he 
will  find  that  he  makes  a  mistake,  unless  he  is  engaged 
in  a  business  which  does  not  require  contact  between 
producer    and     consumer.       Customers    don't    know 
where   the   place  is,   don't   know   how   to   get    there, 
haven't  time  to  go  there,  and  don't  want  to  go  there 
anyhow.     Special  friends  will  take  the  short  cut  and 
buy    elsewhere.      If   a    man  is    engaged    in    making 
things  worth  over  a  hundred  dollars  apiece,  he  had 
better  "  stay  around"  if  he  wants  to  sell  them. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  115 

*  *     *     *     jf  a    machine   builder   is    unfortunate 
enough     to   find    himself    off     somewhere  where  his 
customers  can't   and  won't  get   at  him,  he  must,  of 
necessity,  find  some  way  to  get  at  his  customers.     He 
finds,   by  fine  calculation,    that,  by   going  to  a   tank 
station  to  start  business,  he  saved   thirty-five  hundred 
dollars  a   year,  and  now  he  finds  he  must  incur  an 
expense  of  about  five  thousand    dollars   per  year  on 
account  of    extra   "  traveling   and  advertising."     No 
matter  where  a  man  hangs  his  shingle,  he  must  travel 
and   advertise,  of  course.     If  ten   customers  run    up 
against  his  premises  accidentally,  he  can  bring  ninety 
more  by  a  judicious   investment  in  printers'  ink  and 
railroad    tickets.     If  he  lives   in  the  woods,  he    must 
sell  every  cent's  worth  by  appeal. 

Another  way  out  of  the  difficulty  is  to  sell  through 
warehouses  ;  and  here  I  wish  to  express  my  earnest 
sympathy  with  a  machine  builder,  who  depends  on  a 
metropolitan  agency  for  business,  unless  he  happens 
to  own  the  agency  himself.  In  the  latter  case,  he  is 
o.  k.,  and  if  a  business  can  be  made  extensive  enough, 
it  looks  like  the  right  way  to  do  it.  Have  the  "  con- 
cern" with  a  full  stock  in  the  city,  and  do  the  work 
anywhere.  The  disadvantage  in  this  is,  that  freights 
are  crossing  and  adding,  and  that  the  expense  of 
down-town  warcrooms  and  offices,  and  the  expense  of 
carrying  complete  stocks,  and  the  expense  of  eternally 
running  and  telegraphing  between  office  and  works, 
four  hundred  miles  distant,  will  often  exceed  the  extra 
expense  of  having  the  whole  business,  shop  and  all, 
up  town,  or  in  an  accessible  suburb. 

*  *     *     *     \Vneri  you  depend  on  a  general  machin- 
ery agent  for  sales,  you  knock  off  a  discount,  but  this 
is  less  than  the  cost  of  the  sale,  if  you  made  it  yourself. 
Your  agent's  salesmen  may,   and   may  not,  be  good. 
They  may  lie  for,  or  against,  your  product. 


•II 6  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 

Your  factor  may,  or  may  not,  keep  your  goods  in 
good,  attractive  condition.  He  may,  or  may  not, 
possess  the  special  knowledge  required  in  suiting 
customers.  He  may  treat  you  squarely,  and  he  may 
hold  your  goods  to  keep  them  from  other  factors, 
while  he  throws  his  influence  in  other  directions 
where  better  discounts  maybe  had.  Machinery  agents 
have  got  as  much  human  nature  in  them  as  other  men. 
A  man  is  wise  to  deal  through  them,  but,  I  think,  is 
unwise  and  unlucky,  if  his  sole  dependence  is  upon 
them.  I  apply  this  particularly  to  wood-working  and 
iron-working  machinery. 

*  *  *  *  por  rea(jy  sales  of  machinery  in  these 
lines,  there  is  nothing  like  having  a  good  stock  on 
hand.  When  a  man  takes  a  notion  to  buy  a  thing, 
he  is  much  like  a  woman  with  a  letter  to  mail.  She 
may  have  put  off  writing  the  letter  for  several  months, 
but  when  it  is  written,  it  must  go  into  the  mail  in- 
stanter.  If  some  man  won't  get  out  of  bed  to  mail  it, 
she  will  go  through  snow  or  rain  herself.  A  man  has 
decided  to  buy  a  tool.  He  has  the  money  in  his 
pock;et,  and  starts  for  head-quarters.  If  he  don't  find 
what  he  goes  after,  he  gets  on  his  ear.  He  can't  and 
won't  wait.  He  never  dreamed  of  buying  but  from 
one  builder,  but  if  he  fails  there,  he  will  go  where  he 
can  get  instant  satisfaction.  He  is  bound  to  spend 
that  money  before  he  gets  home.  He  won't  be  satis- 
fied to  leave  an  order.  I  have  known  a  man  to  go 
nin£  hundred  miles  to  buy  a  lathe,  exactly  twenty- 
four  inches  swing,  and  exactly  twelve  feet  between 
centers  ;  and  with  a  certain  kind  of  cross-feed  and 
certain  other  things  to  a  dot.  He  wants  this  lathe 
and  must  have  it  right  away.  He  didn't  find  the  lathe 
in  stock,  and  came  back  with  a  little  planer  that  he 
had  no  more  use  for  than  a  diamond-pointed  tool  has 
for  a  side-pocket.  He  is  just  as  well  satisfied,  how- 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 


117 


ever,  for  the  money  is  gone.  It's  a  good  plan  to  keep 
something  to  sell  to  every  man  who  comes  after  any- 
thing else. 

*  *  *  *  There  are  certain  classes  of  machines 
which  are  universally  disposed  of  through  factors. 
Among  these  are  farm  engines,  and  agricultural  im- 
plements generally.  I  don't  believe  the  shop  sales  to 
the  consumer,  under  the  most  lavish  system  of  travel- 
ing and  advertising,  can  be  brought  to  equal  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  trade  to  be  had  through  resident  district 
factors.  Farmers  never  have  money  or  confidence 
enough  to  go  far  from  home,  and  they  don't  under- 
stand the  process  of  doing  business  by  mail. 


Il8      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL/S  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     XV. 

TELLS  HOW  DIX  AND  CHORDAL  ESTABLISHED  STANDARD 
SIZES  IN  WYCOFF'S  SHOP. 

*  *     *     *     Carr  had  his  mill  work  done  by  Wycoff. 
Lots  of  inch-and-three-quarter  and  two-inch  shafting, 
lots  of  pulleys,  lots  of  spur  and  bevel  gears,  lots  of 
gudgeons,  and  lots  of  babbitted  boxes.     Such  is  the 
character  of  most  orders  for  mill  gearing.    There  were 
probably  thirty  pieces  of  two-inch  shafting,  short  and 
long.      By   two-inch  shafting,   I   mean   two-inch   iron 
turned  down  a  sixteenth,  and  there  were  probably  fifty 
pulleys  to  go  on  these  shafts,  many  of  the  pulleys  the 
same  size.     I  watched  Wycoff's  foreman  giving  orders 
in  the  shop  while  this  work  was  being  done.    He  would 
go  to  Joe  with  a  piece  of  iron  about  a  yard  long,  and 
say  :  "Turn  this  up  to  fit  that  pulley  and  that  bevel 
wheel,  and  turn  a  journal  on  each  end,  so  we  can  bab- 
bitt those  boxes  on  them."    Joe  went  at  it,  but  ran 
against  a  snag  the  first  thing.     The  pulley  and  the 
bevel  gear  had  not  been  bored  the  same  size.   Joe  tells 
the  foreman  so.     Foreman  says  :  "  It's  strange  ;  I  told 
Charley  to  bore  it  to  one  and  fifteen-sixteenths."     Joe 
says  he  can't  help  that ;  that  pulley  won't  go  on  any 
shaft  which  the  bevel  gear  will  fit.    Foreman  takes  the 
calipers  and  investigates.     Yes  !  that's  so.     Well,  you 
fit  this  shaft  to  the  bevel,  and  I'll  have  Gus  file  the 
pulley  out. 

*  *     *     *     HQ  does  have  it  filed  out,  and  he  has 
something  of  the  kind  filed  out  every  day  the  shop 
runs.     Furthermore,   about  every  hole    bored  in  the 
shop  is  tapering  ;  and  furthermore,  his  one  and  fifteen- 
sixteenths  don't  mean  anything.    Charley  does  his  best, 
sets  his  calipers  as  close  as  he  can  to  that  size,  but 
bless  him,  he  can't  set  them  the  same  size  to-morrow. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  11,9 

If  he  bores  a  pulley  one  and  fifteen-sixteenths  every 
day  he  will  have  six  different  sized  holes  Saturday 
night.  This  is  the  best  Charley,  or  any  other  lathes- 
man,  can  do.  The  fault  is  WycofTs.  The  foreman 
knows  the  Monday  and  Tuesday  sizes  are  not  the 
same,  and  he  is  smart  enough  to  have  the  hole  around 
for  the  shaft  man  to  measure  when  he  fits  a  shaft. 

*  *     *     *     Carr  comes  into  Wycoff' s  office  in  a  few 
months  and  orders  a  fourteen-inch  pulley  to  go  on  the 
long  two-inch  shaft  down  at  the  mill.     Wycoff  says  he 
must  send  a  man  down  to  get  the  size  of  the  shaft. 
Carr  says,  "  Why,  you  made  the  shaft  yourself.     Bore 
the  pulley  to  fit  your  two-inch  shafting  and  it  will  be 
all  right."    Wycoff  says,  "  It  won't  be  all  right ;  for  no 
two  pieces  of  my  two-inch  shafting  are  the  same  size." 
Carr  says  they  ought  to  be,  and  wonders  what  will 
happen  if  he  wants  to  transpose  anything  around  the 
mill.     Wycoff  tells  him  he  can't  do  it ;  tells  him  if  he 
left  his  mill  and  worked  at  the  machine  business  thirty 
years  he  would  find  out  that  machinists  never  meas- 
ured alike,  and  that  every  pulley  must  be  fitted  where 
it  belongs.     Carr  is  bold  enough  to  think  there  ought 
to  be  some  way  to  keep  things  decently  uniform,  and 
Wycoff  is  ignorant  enough  to  say  there  is  no  way  in 
which  it  can  be  done. 

*  *     *     *     There  are  a  lot  of  nice  machine  men  in 
the  country  who  will  congratulate  us  on  there  being 
but  one  Wycoff.     There's  where  they  make  their  mis- 
take.    Wycoff  is  ubiquitous  :  he  outvotes  finer  owners; 
he  "raises"  the  most  mechanics,  he  does  most  of  the 
work. 

*  *     *     *     Carr's  old   mill-gearing  was  made  by 
Sackett.     Carr  never  happened   to  know  it,  but  any 
two-inch  shaft  in  the  mill  would  fit  any  two-inch  pul- 
ley, and  if  a  short  two-inch  shaft  has  shouldered  jour- 
nals, those  journals  will  fit  any  similar  boxes  in  the 


120  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

mill.  Carr  can  go  to  Sackett's  in  three  years  from 
now  and  order  a  box,  or  a  pulley,  or  a  shaft,  and  the 
only  size  wanted  is  the  nominal  diameter. 

*  *     *     *     There  is  no  shouldered  shaft  in  Carr's 
new  mill  which  will  allow  itself  to  be  turned  end  for 
end.     The  journals  are  not  the  same  diameter  on  each 
end.     Every  babbitt  box  is  run  on  the  shaft  it  is  in- 
tended for.     Sackett's  boxes  are  run  on  shafts  kept  in 
the  shop  for  that  special  purpose.     They  are  always 
uniform.     His  pulleys  he  reams  out  ;  he  did  just  as 
good  work  before  he  got  his  reamers,  but  it  cost  him  a 
great  deal   more  money.     Why  ?      Because  it  took  a 
more  expensive  man  more  time  to  do  the  work. 

*  *     *     *     Dix  and  I  both  worked  for  Wycoff  at 
the  same  time.    We  tried  to  get  Wycoff  to  do  something 
to  keep  sizes  uniform.     We  were  simply  journeymen, 
but  we  claimed  some   sense.     We  were    working   as 
closely  as  we  could,  and  as  close  as  any  other  work- 
men in  the  world  could,  I  guess.     That  is,  we  set  cali- 
pers to  marks  on  scales  and  turned  to  the  calipers. 
The  mortal  don't  live  who  could   keep  sizes  uniform 
with  these  facilities,  and  this  is  all  a  workman  is  sup- 
posed to  have. 

We  knew  if  we  had  some  better  way  of  getting  a 
size  than  by  picking  it  off  a  scale,  we  could  do  more 
satisfactory  work,  and  by  u  satisfactory "  we  meant 
better  work  and  more  of  it.  We  wanted  some  record, 
some  monument,  some  standard  of  sizes.  Something 
we  could  copy  every  time.  Wycoff  didn't  know  of  any 
such  thing  ;  and  more  than  that,  he  didn't  care.  He 
had  for  thirty  years,  etc.  But  Dix  and  I  did  care.  We 
decided  that  if  Wycoff  would  not  have  good  standard 
sizes,  he  should  have  bad  standard  sizes — some  stand- 
ard we  would  have.  We  two  hel'd  a  meeting,  and,  on 
motion,  it  was  resolved  that  we  would  watch  our 
chances  and  steal  the  time  and  bore  out  collars  to  one 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS.  12 1 

and  seven-sixteenths,  one  and  eleven-sixteenths,  one 
and  fifteen-sixteenths,  and  two  and  three-sixteenths. 
These  collars  we  would  bore  as  nicely  and  to  as  accu- 
rate a  size  as  we  knew  how.  These  collars  we  would 
hide  away  somewhere,  and  when  we  or  the  other  boys 
wanted  a  size,  we  would  set  inside  calipers  to  these 
holes,  and  for  shaft  work  we  would  try  the  collars  on. 
We  chose  the  sizes  named,  because  they  were  the  sizes 
in  most  common  use  in  the  shop. 

Well,  we  made  the  collars  and  piled  them  nicely  in 
a  cupboard.  We  used  them  all  the  time,  and  the  other 
men  appreciated  the  thing.  But  one  day  a  collar  was 
gone,  and  soon  another  was  gone.  When  we  came  to 
snort  around  some,  we  found  Wycoff  had  found  them, 
and  supposed  they  were  simply  extra  collars;  so  he 
had  used  two  of  them  —had  had  them  set-screwed  and 
sent  out  with  work.  Our  collars  were  simply  common 
cast-iron  collars,  mind  you. 

*  *  *  *  We  held  another  meeting,  and,  as  a 
re,sult,  we  invented  a  collar  which  Wycoff  couldn't- 
get-a-set-screw-into.  We  replaced  the  two  lost  ones 
and  turned  a  deep  groove  in  each  ;  that  is,  we  run 
down  with  a  cutting-off  tool  till  the  collar  was  nearly 
cut  in  two,.  No  man  on  earth  could  get  a  half-inch 
s,et-screw  into  such  collars,  for  "they  were  only  about 
an  inch  and  a  half  wide  anyhow,  and  the  cut  came 
right  in  the  middle.  Our  collars  worked'  very  well. 
We  soon  added  short,  wrought-iron  plugs,  which  fit 
the  collars  nicely.  These  plugs  we  could  try  in  holes. 
We  used  calipers,  just  as  usual,  but  we  tested  every- 
thing by  these  plugs  and  rings.  Soon  we  actually  had 
a  set  of  mandrels,  which  we  could  go  and  get,  and 
know  they  would  fit  a  job  without  being  fooled  with. 
However,  we  soon  found  we  couldn't  go  and  get  them, 
because,  somebody  else  had  gone  and  turned  them 
down  to  fit  something  else.  We  never  were  able  to 


122  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

contrive  any  plan  or  plot  by  which  we  could  keep  these 
mandrels.  Remember,  Dix  and  I  were  jours.,  not 
bosses  or  owners.  Had  we  been  bosses,  there  would 
have  been  bloodshed  in  Wycoff's  shop.  For  a  whole 
long  year,  Wycoff's  work  of  these  sizes  was  uniform,  and 
there  was  no  fussing  over  sizes,  and  many,  and  many, 
and  many  an  hour's  time  was  saved  to  the  shop.  If 
we  could  have  mastered  the  mandrel  problem  we 
would  have  been  the  means  of  saving  Wycoff  hundreds 
of  dollars  a  year. 

*  *     *     *     Qur  fancy  gauges  had   their  demerits. 
They  would  wear  out  of  size.     They  were  heavy  and 
clumsy.    The  collars  could  not  be  got  on  work  without 
losing  the  job,  and  even  then  they  would  not  go  up 
close  to  a  tool.     If  a  shaft  began  to  work  large,  the 
collar  could  not  be  got  over  the  big  place  so  as  to  try 
new  parts.     They  were  not  what  we  wanted,  but  they 
beat  "  nothing"  all  to  pieces.    Dix  struck  the  keynote 
when  he  said  we  never  ought  to  use  the  gauges  at  all, 
except  to  set  calipers  by.    Then  the  gauges  would  never 
wear  out,  and  we  would  still  have  just  as  uniform  sizes. 

*  *     *     *     We  debated  on  the  question  of  letting 
Wycoff   into   the  thing.     He    had    several    times   ex- 
pressed wonder  at  a  piece  fitting  in  two  or  three  places, 
and  had  remarked  at  our  luck  in  picking  up  a  mandrel 
which  would  fit  a  job.     Dix  opposed  exposure — said 
the  inelastic  Wycoff    would   snub  the   idea  of   there 
being  better  ways  of  doing  things  ;  that  he  had  for 
thirty  years,  etc.     We  never  did  tell  him.     We  one 
day  left  Mr.  W.'s  shop,  and,  since  that,  it  has  been  the 
good  fortune  of  both  Dix  and  myself  to  have  a  hand  in 
regulating  things— in  putting  into  practical  use  those 
sundry  little  rigs  which  count  in  economy.     We  have 
found  out  how  poor  our  sly  standards  really  were,  and 
we  have  found  that  there  are  much  better  ways  of 
doing  the  thing. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 


I23 


*     *     * 


*  When  a  shop  contemplates  getting  a 
new  thing,  there  is  one  infallible  test  to  apply.  Is  the 
thing  an  element  of  economy  ?  Will  it  reduce  the  cost 
of  bad  work  ?  Will  it  improve  bad  work  ?  Will  it 
improve  good  work  ?  Will  it  reduce  the  cost  of  good 
work  ?  Will  it  save  the  parties  money,  work,  repu- 
tation, or  time  ?  If  all  the  answers  are  "  no,"  say  we 
can't  afford  to  get  it.  If  any  answer  is  "  yes,"  say  we 
can't  afford  to  do  without  it. 

In  ninety-nine  machine  shops  in  a  hundred  there 
are  no  provisions  made  for  uniformity  of  sizes.  Not 
even  the  poor  rigs  Dix  and  I  got  up  on  the  sly.  When 
a  new  tap  is  made  it  is  nor  the  size  of  the  old  one. 
Nothing  can  be  uniform  under  such  circumstances  ; 
nothing  can  be  cheap.  If  you  have  a  machine  shop, 
Mr.  Editor,  or  if  you  have  any  authority  in  a  father- 
in-law's  shop,  study  well  into  the  subject  of  standard 
tools.  Get  decent  workmen,  pay  them  decent  wages, 
give  them  decent  facilities,  expect  decent  work,  and 
you  can  make  a  decent  price  list.  Standard  tools  you 
can't  afford  to  do  without. 


$24          EXTRACTS   FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

OUTWITTING    THE    ALMANAC. LIGHTING    SHOPS. 

*  *     *     *     The  boom  has  struck  us  and  so  has  the 
evening  darkness.     As  luck  will  have  it,  hurried  orders 
almost  always  come  in  just  when  the  days  get  short. 
You  can't  always  make  hay  while  the  sun  shines  in  the 
machine  business.     If  business  moves  along  at  an  easy 
jog,  never  slack  and  never  overflowing  and  rushed,  the 
change  in   the  length  of  days  is  not  of  so  much  im- 
portance. 

The  men  can  be  put  on  short  hours,  but  this  is 
wrong,  for  it  reduces  their  pay  just  when  most  of  them 
need  the  most  money.  The  men  understand  full  well 
that  the  work  done  on  winter  mornings  and  evenings 
is  of  small  value,  even  under  the  best  advantage,  and 
putting  a  shop  on  short  hours  in  the  winter  is  a  fair 
transaction.  If  machinists  would  work  at  plastering 
or  bricklaying,  trades  which  must  save  up  money 
enough  in  summer  to  keep  them  over  winter,  they 
would  learn  a  trick  or  two  which  might  be  of  use  in 
their  own  trade. 

*  *     *     *     Instead    of  cutting   down  the  working 
hours  and  the  pay,  there  is  another  way  of  outwitting 
the  almanac.     That  is  to  cut  down  the  hours  and  leave 
the  pay  as  it  is,  and  bring  the  thing  all  square  by  util- 
izing the  long  days  of  summer.     I  know  of  many  shops 
working  that  way.     I  have  worked  that  way  myself  in 
every  position  about  a  shop,  from   cub  to  super.,  and 
found  it  more  satisfactory  than  any  other  plan. 

There  is  considerable  science  required  in  regulating 
and  arranging  the  hours  on  this  plan. 

I  give  here  a  table  of  hours,  calculated  by  Mr.  Chas. 
A.  Bauer,  Superintendent  of  the  Champion  Bar  and 
Knife  Works  at  Springfield,  Ohio. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 


'25 


TIME  TABLE.   AVERAGE  IO  HOURS. 


Date. 

Go  to  work 
a.  m. 

Be  gone 
to  Dinner. 

Go  home 
p.  m. 

Jan.  i  

7  .  i  C 

i  hour 

e 

"     8..  

a 

ii 

0  • 
C  .  1C 

"  29   

7  . 

« 

0     *O 

e  .  ?o 

Feb.  12  

7 

« 

C     JC 

"      19  

6.  AC 

« 

65 

Mar   18  

(« 

« 

6.IC 

Sept.  16  

« 

« 

0 

6. 

Oct.     7.. 

« 

M 

e    4cj 

"       14.. 

M 

<« 

o    to 
c    ?O 

Nov.  TI  

7. 

a 

D  •  o^ 
$  •  1^ 

Dec      2   

7  . 

« 

r  . 

"       9  

7.  IB 

« 

0  • 

tr  . 

"      16  

/    A  o 

a 

M 

4-  .  CO 

•t  ov 

This  table  is  to  be  hungup  in  the  shop  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  men  and  the  genius  who  attends  to  the 
bell  or  whistle.  By  carefully  going  over  this  table  it 
will  be  found  that  it  is  made  to  conform  to  daylight, 
and  that  it  gives  the  men  ten  hours  pay,  and  the  shop 
ten  hours  work  the  year  round.  The  pay  of  the  men 
is  never  changed.  They  get  ten  hours  pay  every  day. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  longest  shop  days,  by  this  table, 
are  from  March  i8th  to  September  nth,  during  which 
time  the  days  are  ten  and  a  half  hours  long,  and  that 
the  shortest  are  from  December  i6th  to  January  ist, 
during  which  time  they  are  eight  hours  and  thirty  five 
minutes  long. 

'  This  arrangement  need  not  complicate  cost  accounts, 
for  it  need  not  enter  into  them. 

The  more  you  look  into  this  thing  the  more  you  will 
see  what  you  don't  see  about  the  cost  matter. 

It  is  giving  the  men  the  cream  off  the  milk,  for  they 


126  EXTRACTS   FROM   CHORDAI/S   LETTERS. 

get  full  wages  in  the  winter,  while  the  shop  makes  no 
money  in  the  winter,  and  has  to  run  the  risk  on  sum- 
mer work.  But  all's  well  that  ends  well. 

*  *     *     *     There  are   vicious  sides  to   this   time- 
table plan  when  taken  advantage  of  by  unscrupulous 
men,  both  owners  and  workmen.      I  have  heard  work- 
men kicking  against  the  plan,  because  some  rogueish 
owner  had  paid  them  wages  during  the  summer  and 
then  put  them  on  starvation  piece-work  in  the  winter ; 
and  I  have  seen  owners  the  victims  of  sharp  workmen 
who  drew  wages  during  the  winter  and  went  to  other 
shops  in  the  summer.     This  table  is  a  good  gauge  for 
morals.     In  smooth- working  shops  I  have  seen  men 
growling  in  the  summer  over  the  long  hours.     These 
men   were  invariably  big   fools  who  knew   nothing  of 
the  laws  of  compensation  or  the  rules  of  average. 

*  *     *     *     But  when  the  boom  comes  and  you  can't 
get  men  enough  to  fill  up  the  shop,  compensating  laws 
and  average  time  tables  won't  save  you.     The  shop 
must  not  only  run  ten  hours  per  day,  but  it  must  run 
twenty-four  hours  per  day  sometimes. 

The  machine  business  is  nice,  it's  interesting,  it's 
vocative  and  intellectual,  and  all  that,  but  the  only 
way  to  get  any  money  out  of  it  is  to  have  plenty  of 
work  and  crowd  things.  Money  can't  be  made  deliber- 
ately in  any  machine  shop.  When  I  say  plenty  of  work, 
I  mean  all  the  shop  can  take  care  of.  A  shop  a  mile 
long  with  self-winders,  and  self-setting  attachments, 
and  all  the  modern  improvements,  is  tip  top  so  long  as 
the  shop  is  full  of  work.  But  it  takes  lots  of  work  to 
make  it  full.  When  half  full,  the  work  costs  much 
more  than  if  the  shop  was  only  half  as  big.  The  big 
shops  have  been  envying  the  little  ones  for  several 
years,  and  I  know  of  one  large  concern  who,  having 
looked  into  the  matters  deeply  and  seriously,  thought 
of  locking  up  the  place  and  renting  a  small  concern. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S     LETTERS.  12) 

The  word   "  elephant  "  simply  means   big,  and   don't 
refer  to  material  or  direction. 

*  *     *     *     Night  work  must   be  done,  and   some 
provision  for  light  must  be  made.     In  many  shops  the 
rule  is  to  pay  fifty  per  cent,  additional  for  night  work. 
This  is  all  right  on  job  work,  for  the  job  can  be  charged 
with  it  if  the  party  is  over  anxious.    But  when  it  comes 
to  contract  or  staple  work,  fetched  deep  from  bids  on 
an  open  market,  the  thing  is  different. 

Here  we  find  that,  even  with  an  hour's  pay  the  same, 
an  hour's  work  isn't  the  same.  If  you  know  of  a  shop 
doing  regular  machine  work,  which  can  get  forty  min- 
utes' work  done  in  an  hour  after  night,  I  wish  you 
would  tell  me  how  they  do  it.  This  reduction  of  the 
value  of  an  hour  adds  a  big  percentage  to  the  cost  of 
work,  without  the  necessity  of  adding  another  fifty  per 
cent,  to  the  cost  of  the  labor. 

*  *     *     *     jyjen  can't  do  much  work  after  night. 
If  you  go  into  a  shop  at  night,  you  see  a  black  im- 
mensity with  little  spots  of  light  in  it.     In  the  middle 
of  each  of  these  little  light  spots  you  will  find  a  little 
machinist  trying  to  do  a  little  work.    Gaslight  is  used, 
we  will  assume.     The  bracket  pipes  have  half  a  dozen 
elbows,  and  can  be  crooked  around  in  every  direction, 
and   they  have  six-foot  burners  with  lava  tips.     You 
may  put  more  joints  in  the  brackets,  you  may  put  on 
ten-foot  burners  .with  salamander  tips,  till  you  can't 
rest,  but  still  your  light  will  come  from  one  direction. 
Even  a  vise-man   must   be  forever  pulling   his   light 
around,  trying  to  get  it  into  'useful  positions.     The 
planer-men  are  happy  while  a  cut  lasts,  but  when  it 
comes  to  setting  work  or  doing  any  nice  measuring  or 
gauging,  trouble  begins.    Lathesmen  ditto,  except  that 
this  work  calls  for   light  projected    into  deep  holes. 
The  men  working  on  the  floor  are  at  a  fearful  disad- 
vantage.    They  always  want  something.     They  can't 


128  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

see  it  and  don't  know  what  direction  to  go  in  to  look 
for  it.  They  have  burners  on  the  ends  of  hose,  but 
they  don't  know  where  to  take  the  thing  next.  The 
same  happens  when  any  machinist  wants  any  tool  or 
any  piece.  Gas  can't  be  carried  around  nicely,  after  a 
man  does  make  up  his  mind  where  to  search  for  a  thing. 

*  *     *     *     Bad  as  it  looks,  it  is  better  to  use  the 
gas  for  fixed  lights  and  give  the  men  candles.     A  can- 
dle is  a  supple  affair.     You   can   stick  it   anywhere. 
You  may  devise  and  construct  ingenious  candlesticks, 
but  they  will  finally  yield  to  a  hot-pressed  nut.     If  a 
man  leaves  a  lathe,  he  leaves  the  gas  burning  ;  he  takes 
his  candle  with  him,  and  when  he  comes  back  his  gas- 
light acts  as  a  beacon,  and  enables  him  to  find  his  lathe 
again  — if  he  don't  break  his  neck  in  the  meantime. 

*  *     *     *     Once  on  a  time,  when  I  was  using  can- 
dles for  movable  lights,  a  silver-tongued  pedlar  came 
along  with  a  gay  and  festive  hand  lamp  for  coal  oil. 
He  talked  and  exhibited.     It  was  small  and  light  in 
weight,  and  brilliant  and  cheap.     He  couldn't  blow  ix, 
out  and  I  couldn't.     He  convinced  me  that  it  couldn't 
explode,  and  gave  me  testimonials  from  many  shops 
which  /tad  been  using  them.    I  bought  fifty  and  started 
the  thing  up.     As  was  usual  with  me,  I  did  not  deal 
them  out  to  the  boys  as  supplies,  but  I  presented  one 
to  each  hand.     They  were  charmed  with  the  taking 
affairs,  and  proceeded  to  do  the  usual  elegant  engrav- 
ing of  names,  etc.     The  plan  was  well  introduced,  but 
within   a   week   every  lamp   had    been    smashed  flat 
against  the  only  spot  of  dead  wall  in  the  shop.     I  said 
nothing,  for  they  were  not  my  lamps.    The  men  might 
use  candles,  if  they  preferred  them,  but  I  had  my  own 
elegant  name  on  one  lamp,  and  I  used  the  lamp,  too. 
One  night  my  own  lamp  flattened  itself  against  that 
same  wall,  and  that  was  the  end  of  coal  oil  as  a  port- 
able light  for  me. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORD AI/S   LETTERS.  129 

*  *  *  *  After  being  cured  of  coal  oil  as  a  port- 
able light,  I  gave  still  further  attention  to  the  subject. 
I  saw  that  all  lights  were  defective  for  machine  work 
on  account  of  the  light  coming  so  decidedly  from  one 
direction.  This  I  thought  it  idle  to  grumble  about, 
as  it  couldn't  be  helped.  But  I  looked  deep  into  the 
matter  of  candles.  I  had  been  paying  eighteen  cents 
a  pound  for  star  candles  by  the  box.  They  gave 
good  light,  and  were  the  best  I  knew  of.  They 
dripped  all  over  the  tools,  and  the  men,  and  the  work, 
and  the  shop,  but  that  was  a  feature  of  all  candles. 
One  box  I  got  was  clear  and  transparent.  They  didn't 
look  like  the  other  candles,  and,  after  the  box  was 
about  half  gone,  a  bill  of  correction  came  from  the 
dealers.  The  candles  had  been  sent  by  mistake. 
They  were  thirty-five  cents  a  pound,  and  they  wanted 
the  difference  or  the  candles.  They  didn't  get  either. 
Something  came  of  this.  I  noticed  that  the  drip  from 
these  candles  didn't  stick  to  anything  whatever  ;  that 
is,  it  would  fall  off,  or  could  be  picked  off  clean, 
while,  with  the  star  candles,  the  stuff  had  to  be  scraped 
off.  This  was  a  feature  on  bright  work,  and  I  soon 
found  that  these  candles  dripped  but  very  little  any- 
how, and  they  didn't  gutter  any.  I  then  inaugurated  a 
test,  and  found  that  a  star  candle  burned  two  inches, 
nearly,  while  the  others  burned  an  inch.  This  ac- 
counted for  their  cleanliness.  The  material  was  only 
melted  as  fast  as  needed  by  the  wick,  and  it  was  all 
used.  This  put  a  new  face  on  the  thing,  and  I  figured 
some.  As  a  result  of  the  figuring,  I  used  these  candles, 
thereafter,  at  thirty-five  cents,  as  being  cheaper  than 
the  star  at  eighteen.  I  forget  the  brand  of  these 
candles,  but  I  think  they  were  paraffine.  They  were 
elegant  looking,  and  I  found  the  men  got  into  the 
habit  of  chewing  them  like  gum,  and  soon  I  got  into 
it  myself.  This  ought  to  be  considered  in  the  calcu- 


130  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 

lations,  for,  unless  you  can  confine  the  chewing  to 
the  fag-ends,  it  will  count  up. 

-  *  *  *  *  I  thought  the  candle  business  as  good 
as  it  could  be,  but  still  I  was  trying  to  get  lots  of 
work  out  of  a  dark  shop.  I  saw  that  unless  the  shop, 
as  a  shop,  was  made  fairly  light,  the  night  work 
never  could  be  brought  anywhere  near  the  day  work. 
I  tried  to  fix  things.  I  gave  each  man  a  gas  jet,  as 
usual,  and  a  candle,  as  usual.  Then  I  put  in  wall- 
brackets  everywhere,  and  put  chandeliers  with  four 
lights  in  every  important  neighborhood.  This  did 
the  business.  Men  could  see  each  other's  noses,  and 
a  man  could  go  and  get  what  he  wanted  without 
sneaking  all  over  the  shop,  like  Judas  Iscariot  looking 
down  a  rat-hole  for  eighteen  pence. 

*  *  *  *  The  men  were  now  doing  lots  of  work 
o'nights,  and  so  was  that  gas-meter.  I  kept  time  and 
watch,  closely,  and  found  the  thing  didn't  pay.  I  must 
let  my  pipe-fitter  cut  the  gas-meter's  part  entirely  out 
of  the  play,  or  else  the  play  must  stop.  Gas  cost 
three  dollars.  I  thought  of  using  coal  oil  for  the  side- 
lights and  chandeliers,  and  then  I  thought  of  the 
chimneys  and  wondered  how  they  would  stand  the 
racket.  I  decided  they  would  not  do  at  all.  I  could 
not  use  coal  oil.  Then  a  happy  thought  struck  me. 
I  brought  the  secretary  of  the  gas  company  around 
to  the  shop,  and  had  everything  prepared  for  him. 
Every  burner  was  doing  its  loudest,  and  I  told  him  to 
look  at  that.  I  showed  him  last  month's  big  bill,  and 
told  him  to  look  at  that.  He  was  pleased.  Then  I 
told  him  how  much  we  increased  the  value  of  the 
workmen  by  the  plan,  and  he  was  still  further  pleased. 
Then  I  told  him  if  he  didn't  give  us  gas  at  one-fifty, 
I  would  stop  it  to-morrow,  and  put  in  coal-oil.  His 
jaw  fell,  and  then  rose  in  high  and  mighty  argument. 
I  won,  and  the  gas  slaid  in  till  we  joined  a  couple  of 


EXTRACTS    FROM     CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  13! 

neighbors  on  the  same  block,  and  put  in  a  gas  machine 
of  our  own. 

*  *     *     *     MV    experience   then    and    since,    has 
confirmed  me   in   the   opinion    that   night   work  can 
never   approach   day   work   in    cheapness,  unless  the 
atmosphere  can  be  made  light,  as  I  did  it,  or  other- 
wise.    Of    late    years    the    electric   light  furore   has 
opened    up  something  new   in  this  line.     Some  time 
ago,  I  looked  into  the  electric  question  as  applied  to 
shops,  and  finally  opened  up  on  the  Brush  Company. 
They  sent  estimates  under  guarantee  of  satisfaction. 
The  outfit,  complete,  giving  lights  for  each  shop,  the 
office,  etc.,  would  cost  only  twenty-seven  hundred  and 
eighty   dollars.      This   staggered    me.      We   couldn't 
spare  the  money,  and  so  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  electric  light  hadn't  got  completed  yet,  anyhow. 
Last  winter,  Bennett  found  his   shop  running   every 
night,  and  he  took  up  the  subject  of  electric  lights. 
He    has  a    long  shop,  splendidly  suited    for   it.     We 
conferred  together,  and  went  out  to  Cleveland.     We 
found  the  handsomest  man  I  ever  saw,  shut  up  in  a 
darkened  room,  with  eighteen  lights  on  a  single  circuit. 
It  was  Mr.  Brush.     For  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  had 
the   satisfaction  of   seeing    a   regular    machine   shop 
really  lighted  up  at  night,  and  doing  effective  busi- 
ness.    There  was  no  impediment   to  travel,  no  won- 
dering if  a  certain  thing  was  in  a  certain  place.     The 
inside  of  the  shop  was  light.     The  keen  satisfaction 
we  both  had  was  all  that  came  of  the  trip.     Bennett 
could  not  stand  the  price,  and  the  company  had  the 
good  sense  to  stick  to  the  price  while  they  were  full  of 
orders. 

*  *     *     *     Talk  about  illumination   in   the  shop ! 
I  saw  a   rig    in    Bennett's  foundry   the   other   night, 
which  was  not  a  bad  idea.     A  heat  was  being  run,  and, 
of  course,  it  was  long  after  dark,     Otto  had  thrown  a 


132  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

bushel  of  soft  coal  on  the  floor,  stuck  a  six-foot  piece 
of  inch-and-a-half  gas  pipe  down  into  the  pile  of 
coal,  poured  a  little  melted  iron  on  the  coal,  thrown 
on  some  sand,  and  lighted  the  top  of  the  pipe.  Here 
was  the  biggest  kind  of  a  gas  works  gotten  up  on 
the  shortest  notice.  Be  it  old  or  hew,  this  hint  may 
be  of  va/  e  in  many  a  foundry  and  elsewhere. 


The  Lightning  Machinist.— Page  135. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S     LETTERS.  135 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE    LIGHTNING    MACHINIST. HIS    LAZY  NEIGHBOR. THE 

SOLDIER     ON    DUTY. — GIVING     SATISFACTION     TO      PUR- 
CHASERS.— ORDER    IN    SHOPS. 

*  *  *  *  Did  you  ever  have  a  lightning  machin- 
ist to  work  for  you — one  of  those  quick-blooded 
fellows,  all  energy  and  activity  ?  When  you  walk  out 
into  the  shop,  you  see  him  going  into  things  for  all 
that's  out.  When  he  strikes  with  a  hammer,  he  strikes 
quick.  When  he  starts  for  a  thing,  he  starts  with  a 
flash,  as  though  he  had  been  shot  out  of  a  gun.  When 
he  lifts  a  thing,  he  simply  jerks  it  up.  When  he  lets 
it  down,  he  drops  it.  When  he  goes  to  another  part 
of  the  shop,  he  goes  on  a  run.  When  he  goes  to 
the  grindstone,  he  rushes  there,  and  rushes  back. 
It  is  worth  the  price  of  admission  to  a  trapeze  perform- 
ance to  watch  him  at  a  lathe.  He  wants  to  change 
his  belt,  and  he  snaps  at  it  like  a  flash.  He  knocks 
his  shifter  instead  of  shoving  it.  When  he  puts  a 
three-foot  shaft  in  his  lathe,  he  grabs  it  from  the 
floor,  snaps  a  dog  on  it,  fixes  one  end  on  the  live 
center,  and  lunges  out  after  the  tail  wheel  like  a 
zouave  on  fancy  drill.  This  genius  not  only  does  this 
when  you  happen  to  walk  into  the  shop,  but  he  does 
it  all  the  time.  All  day  long  he  jumps,  and  hops, 
and  snatches,  and  strains,  and  blows,  and  sweats,  and 
works  hard  and  energetically  generally,  and  when 
night  comes  he  hasn't  got  any  work  done.  That  is 
the  case ;  for  this  fellow  is  the  biggest  kind  of  a 
humbug.  This  energy  of  his  is  not  execution.  When 
you  come  to  look  into  the  chap,  you  generally  find 
he  hasn't  got  sense  enough  to  do  anything,  even  if  he 
took  time  for  it.  He  is  a  born  fool,  or  he  wouldn't 
jump  around  so,  He  rushes  a  diamond  point  tool 


136  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

into  the  tool  post,  and  screws  down  on  it  with  a  spin. 
Then  he  finds  it  wrong  and  unscrews  it,  and  does 
it  all  over,  and  so  on,  half  a  dozen  times.  He  gets 
everything  he  does  right  by  a  succession  of  nervous 
twitches.  He  is  chock  full  of  vim,  and  has  no  lazy 
bones  in  his  body.  He  generally  wins  the  approval  of 
short-sighted  bosses.  He  is  known  to  be  an  honest, 
hard-working  man,  but  he's  a  fraud  of  the  grossest 
order,  and  isn't  worth  shop-room. 

*  *  *  *  Did  you  ever  watch  a  barber  who  took 
nervous,  short  strokes  with  the  razor?  Every  second 
his  razor  flies  like  lightning  from  your  face  to  the 
paper  on  your  shoulder.  He  reaches  for  brushes  and 
things  with  vehement  energy.  My  !  but  isn't  he  a 
quick  barber !  You  watch  him  in  the  glass  as  he 
shaves  you,  but  he  don't  seem  to  get  any  beard  off 
your  face,  and  don't  seem  to  get  much  lather  on  the 
paper.  The  lazy  chap  "  running"  the  next  chair,  has 
taken  slow,  broad  swipes,  with  a  clean  precision,  from 
the  faces  of  three  customers  since  you  submitted  your- 
self to  your  quick  man. 

****jf  vou  want  to  be  shaved  in  time  for 
a  train,  don't  get  under  an  energetic  barber :  and  if 
you  want  to  get  a  lathe  job  done  in  a  hurry,  don't  go 
near  one  of  these  quick-moving  machinists.  And  if 
you  should  take  your  lathe  job  to  such  a  one,  don't  tell 
him  to  rush  it.  If  you  do,  you  are  gone  sure.  He 
can't  rush  anything.  If  you  crowd  him,  he  will  set 
his  tools  that  much  more  ineffectively  ;  he  will  reck- 
lessly grind  his  tools,  so  they  won't  cut  at  all  ;  he  will 
recklessly  belt  to  speeds  so  fast  as  to  prohibit  any 
iron  being  removed  ;  and  then  will  get  back  to  the 
proper  speed.  If  he  wants  to  put  a  file  finish  on  his 
horrible  job,  he  can't  find  time  to  change  to  a  high 
speed,  so  he  goes  hammering  the  job  with  a  mill  file, 
while  the  surface  of  the  work  moves  at  eighteen  feet 


EXTRACTS    PROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS.  137 

a  minute.  Every  machinist  of  any  sense  soon  finds 
out  that  filing  lathe  work  at  a  slow  speed  is  not  the 
way  to  hurry  a  thing,  but  this  energetic  dolt  never 
•took  time  to  find  out  anything.  Better  put  him  out  in 
the  yard,  and  let  him  practise  ground  and  lofty  tum- 
bling in  breaking  scrap  iron.  His  useless  gymnastics 
have  no  place  in  a  machine  shop.  Put  such  a  fellow 
on  piecework  prices,  which  make  a  lazy  man  rich,  and 
he  will  starve  to  death.  There  is  something  winning 
about  the  fellow's  motions,  but  there  is  no  good  in 
them. 

*  *  *  *  If  you  want  something  done  in  a  hurry, 
your  lazy  man  is  the  one  to  do  it.  It  isn't  often  he 
hurries,  but  when  he  does  do  it  he  enjoys  it.  A 
hurry  once  in  two  or  three  months  is  his  recreation. 
Hurry  this  man  for  half  a  day,  and  he  will  be  pre- 
pared to  recommence  his  old  lazy  way  with  renewed 
vigor.  This  lazy  fellow  is  susceptible  of  being  hur- 
ried. You  can't  demoralize  him  by  rushing  him,  be- 
cause he  won't  hurry  that  much.  He  will  slouch  over 
to  a  grindstone,  and  fix  a  diamond  point  tool  as  he 
seldom  fixes  one.  He  will  patiently  grind  the  face 
down  nicely,  and  give  the  edge  a  keener  angle  than 
he  usually  takes  the  time  to  grind  to,  and  he  is  careful 
to  grind  the  back  of  the  cutting  edge  a  little  the 
lowest.  When  he  gets  back  to  the  lathe  after  a  while, 
he  engineers  that  tool  into  its  most  effective  position, 
and  then  he  screws  down  on  it.  He  starts  up  at  a 
speed  he  knows  won't  glaze  that  elegant  tool,  and  he 
shoves  it  into  a  cut  as  deep  as  the  job  will  stand. 
Soon  he  will  be  piling  great  chips  under  his  lathe,  and 
your  job  is  under  the  best  possible  headway.  This 
elegant  machinist  will  be  sitting  down  on  his  tool 
board.  He's  tired,  poor  man  ! 

*  *  *  *  I  don't  want  to  defend  the  lazy  machin- 
ist, but  when  you  want  something  in  a  special  rush, 


138  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

you  will  find  that  he  won't  do  any  reckless  fussinp. 
He  won't  make  any  false  strokes  for  fear  it  will  make 
too  much  work.  He  remembers  every  little  thing  in 
the  past,  which,  by  some  miscarriage,  caused  trouble, 
and  now  he  takes  the  sure  and  certain  and  effective 
path.  If  you  are  in  a  hurry  for  the  job,  he  is  particu- 
larly anxious  that  you  shall  have  it  as  soon  as  possible. 
He  is  a  man  who  don't  like  to  have  hurried  jobs  on 
his  hands  any  longer  than  possible.  The  other  kind 
suits  him  best,  and  he  will  get  back  to  them  as  quickly 
as  he  can. 

Another  good  thing  about  this  lazy  chap  is,  that  he 
never  soldiers.  He  don't  need  to. 

*  *  *  *  There  is  a  certain  kind  of  machinists 
who  seem  always  to  feel  guilty  of  something  under- 
hand. When  the  boss  comes  around,  they  will  antic 
about,  and  you  would  think  they  would  work  their 
skins  off.  This  imposition  succeeds  only  with  that 
class  of  foremen  who  take  considerable  stock  in  the 
energetic  fellow  we  first  talked  of. 

Every  smart  foreman  knows  very  well  that  during 
this  effervescence  the  men  are  not  doing  anything  at 
all.  They  are  making  unusual,  idle,  quick  motions  for 
a  few  minutes,  just  as  our  energetic  chap  does  all  day 
long.  If  they  kept  on  they  would  get  nothing  done, 
and  it  is  only  when  they  quit  this  momentary  making- 
believe,  and  go  to  work,  that  they  commence  to  accom- 
plish anything.  If  you  see  a  man  reaching  out  lively 
when  a  boss  comes  around,  you  can  make  up  your  mind 
that  that  chap  has  been  soldiering.  Such  a  man  gen- 
erally has  no  honor  that  you  can  depend  on.  You 
must  watch  him.  There  are  two  kinds  of  machinists 
that  I  hate  above  all  men.  One  is  represented  by  the 
man  who  works  furiously  in  another  man's  service,  and 
has  nothing  at  home  to  show  for  it,  except  the  sweat 
wrung  from  his  dirty  shirts  by  his  slouchy  family,  and 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  139 

the  other  kind  is  represented  by  the  man  whose  general 
actions  would  lead  one  to  suppose  he  had  some  honor, 
but  who,  whenever  there  is  a  tip-top  chance,  will  be 
found  comfortably  fixed  in  some  out-of-the-way  place, 
knocking  his  heels  together,  and  finding  true  delight  in 
the  hard  task  of  trying  to  enjoy  himself,  while  he  is 
battling  with  conscience  and  keeping  a  good  lookout 
for  the  boss.  This  is  the  soldier  on  duty.  There  are 
three  ways  to  get  along  with  him.  First,  kick  him  out  of 
the  shop  for  keeps ;  second,  watch  him  all  the  time  ; 
thirdly,  if  your  work  will  permit  it,  have  a  distinct 
understanding  with  him  that  he  is  to  work  for  you  five 
days  a  week  for  pay,  and  soldier  one  day  at  his  own 
expense.  I  have  tried  this  latter  plan,  and  if  the  man 
don't  drink,  it  works  first  rate.  One  week-day  idle  in 
a  busy  man's  life  will  make  him  feel  glad  to  get  into 
the  shop  for  five  days  of  occupation!  In  about  a  year 
you  can  give  the  man  six  days  work  a  week  with  per- 
fect satisfaction  all  around. 

*  *    *     *     jf    jt  was  not  for   tne  two  ciasses    Of 

workmen  I  have  mentioned,  there  would  be  but  few 
misunderstandings  between  the  two  parties  mutually 
interested  in  manufacturing,  namely,  the  men  who  do 
the  work  and  the  men  who  hunt  up  the  work  ar.d  fur- 
nish the  facilities  for  doing  it. 

*  *     *     *     I  am  half  convinced  that  some  manu- 
facturers look  upon  the  ill-will,  or  dissatisfaction  rather, 
of  a  customer  as  simply  a  matter  of  annoyance.     If 
Wycoff  sells  half  a  dozen  nail  machines  to  Woods,  and 
the  machines  don't  act  just  right,  Mr.  Wycoff  will  be 
pretty  apt  to  hear  from  Mr.  Woods.     He  will  keep  on 
hearing  from  him,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
he  has  got  his  money  for  them,  he  will   finally  fix  the 
machines  up  and  make  them  work  right.     He  don't  do 
it  because  he  has  any  particular  interest  in  the  nail 
machines,  but  simply  because  Woods  won't  let  him 


I4O  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL/S    LETTERS. 

alone  till  the  machines  do  act  right.  Wycoff  don't  seem 
to  say  to  himself  :  "  Now,  here  goes  half  a  dozen  nail 
machines.  If  they  give  good  satisfaction,  I  will  sell 
lots  more  of  them,  and  if  they  don't  I  won't." 

Apparently  the  only  view  he  takes  of  the  thing  is  to 
fill  the  order  and  wait  for  the  next  thing  to  come  along. 

It  seems  to  me  there  is  something  more  than  this  in 
such  transactions.  It  don't  pay  in  the  machine  busi- 
ness to  wait  too  long  for  the  next  thing  to  come.  A 
certain  amount  of  force  must  be  put  into  the  thing, 
and  it  strikes  me  that  the  satisfactory  operation  of 
something  already  delivered  is  sure  to  result  in  future 
orders. 

Of  course  most  manufacturers  act  on  this  principle, 
but  Wycoff  don't.  I  know  some  manufacturers  who 
look  entirely  to  the  satisfaction  of  customers,  and  give 
no  thought  to  the  real  merit  of  the  product.  This  may 
look  unreasonable,  but  merit  will  not  always  insure 
satisfaction.  The  notion  of  a  large  class,  the  habits  of 
customs  of  a  section,  the  ignorance  of  the  mass,,  the 
conservatism  of  a  class,  the  prestige  of  some  old  and 
played-out  plan,  all  these  things  have  a  bearing  on  the 
question  of  satisfaction,  while  they  all  may  be  directly 
against  merit. 

*  *  *  *  It  is  astonishing  how  much  ship-shape- 
ness  and  order  will  tend  to  economy. 

An  orderly  system  and  strict  discipline  in  the  shop 
is  not  hard  on  men.  It  is  just  the  other  thing.  It  pre- 
scribes duties  within  the  power  of  each  man,  and  thus 
really  lightens  the  labor  of  each  man.  Go-as-you- 
please  work  is  the  hardest  kind  of  work,  and  the  rigid 
lines  of  duty,  if  prudently  laid,  are  always  easy  to  follow. 

The  opposite  of  order  is  disorder  and  shiftlessness. 
Shiftlessness  in  all  things  results  in  an  accumulation 
of  things  out  of  place.  The  replacing  of  these  things 
forms  the  hard  work  of  life. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  141 

*  *     *     *     i  know  of  no  more  terrifying  job  than 
cleaning  up  a  machine  shop   which  is  only  cleaned 
when  it  gets  too  dirty  to  work  in.     One  or  two  such 
jobs  is  enough,  and  generally  will  be  so  vast  and  un- 
pleasant as  to  put  a  stop  to  all  future  cleaning  opera- 
tions.    The  red  rust  of  an  hour's  production  is  easy  to 
remove,  but  the  black  rust  resulting  -from  two  days' 
existence  of  red  dust  calls  for  a  re-surfacing  of  metal 
work.     It  is  not  hard  to  clean  up  a  clean  shop,  but 
it  seems  impossible  to  clean  a  dirty  one.      Lack  of 
neatness  in  one  place  will  demoralize  all  places.    This 
demoralization  will  show  in  everything.    Tidy  machine 
work  cannot  be  got  out  of  an  untidy  machine  shop. 
Those  shops  which  let   things  go  by   the   board  for 
weeks  and  months,  and  then  have  what  they  call  a 
grand  cleaning  up,  are  never  clean,  not  even  the  day  after 
they  are  cleaned.    The  job  is  too  great  to  be  well  done. 

*  *     *     *     Sometimes  you  will  see  a  planer  hand 
wearing  himself  out  on  a  cleaning  job.     He  will  run 
the  table  off  the  bed  and  shovel  chips  out  of  the  in- 
side, and  will  dig 'out  old  oil  thick  and  stiff  with  cut- 
tings.    He  takes  down  bottom  boxes  and  cracks  gum 
off  the  journals,  and  bores  out  the  oil  holes.     He  pulls 
down  the  saddle  work  and  wrestles  with  the  down- 
feed  miters.     His  planer  is  too  black  to  clean  decently, 
and  when  half  done  he  begins  to  slouch  the  big  under- 
taking.    When  he  gets  things  in  shape  again,  he  does 
nice  planing  for  three  days,  and  then  the  oil  holes  get 
plugged  up  again  and  chips  accumulate,  and  the  mi- 
ters get  on  a  strike  and  won't  work  smooth,  and  Mr. 
Planerman  begins  to  get  down  at  the  heel  all  over,  and 
don't  pretend   to  work  closer  than   a   thirty-second. 
Maybe  the  man  right  next  to  him  never  takes  a  clean- 
ing fit,  and  always  has  a  nice,  clean,  tidy  planer.    This 
cleaning  is  really  so  small  a  job,  when  done  regularly 
and  well,  that  you  can  never  catch  him  at  it. 


142  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL/S   LETTERS. 

*  *     *     *     The  dircy  machine  shop  is  always  com- 
plaining of  the  lack  of  room.     Such  shops  will  contin- 
ually buy  in  real  estate,  and  cover  it  over  with  a  heter- 
ogeneous mass  of  stuff,  which,  if  sorted  out  and  put  in 
proper  place,  would  not  be  in  the  way  at  all.     I  always 
notice  that  those  shops  which  are  always   crying  for 
room  to  stretch  their  neglect  in,  have  ten  times  more 
room  than  common,  and  are   occupying  the  biggest 
part  of  one  or  two  blocks  of  streets  and  alleys. 

Room  isn't  the  thing  needed  at  all.  Order  is  wanted. 
Make  the  decks  and  hold  tidy,  and  there  will  be  no 
complaint  of  lack  of  room. 

*  *     *     *     jf   no    men    were   shiftless,    some    men 
would  starve.     I  know  many  men  who  grow  rich  in 
setting  to  rights  the  disorders  of  careless  men. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  143 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

CHORDAL'S  BOY  JOE. — WHAT   BOOKS   SHALL   MACHINISTS 
READ  ? 

*  *  *  *  Something  must  be  done  with  my  oldest 
boy,  Joe.  He  has  been  knocking  around  the  shop  dur-. 
ing  his  idle  hours,  and  has  developed  a  certain  amount 
of  original  talent.  He  has  never  worked  in  the  shop, 
but  has  wanted  to  very  much.  His  originality  takes 
a  critical  turn  as  well  as  a  constructive  one.  He  got 
into  the  true  inwardness  of  one  of  my  mechanical 
schemes,  and  I  caught  him  expressing  his  opinions 
of  the  machine  in  a  way  which  filled  me  with  pride 
and  mortification.  Some  of  his  remarks  were  not  very 
complimentary  to  the  skill  and  good  judgment  of  the 
elder  Chordal.  I  had  to  find  my  consolation  in  the 
critical  ability  displayed  by  the  young  man.  Joe's  fu- 
ture is  a  mechanical  one.  I  have  never  let  my  inves- 
tigations into  the  boy's  character  take  a  suggestive 
turn,  and  for  this  reason  I  can  speak  with  some  cer- 
tainty of  the  real  bent  of  his  mind.  What  I  am  study- 
ing on  is  how  to  arrange  matters  to  the  best  advan- 
tage ;  how  to  start  Joe  in  the  best  channel.  This  is 
a  subject  which  interests  other  people  with  other  bril 
liant  Joes  on  their  hands,  otherwise  I  would  not  broach 
the  subject. 

When  I  say  Joe's  future  is  a  mechanical  one,  wliat 
do  I  mean  ?  Is  he  to  be  a  master  mechanic  of  rail- 
roads, or  is  he  to  have  M.  E.  on  the  end  of  his  name, 
and  do  the  scheming  and  general  talent  business  for 
large  concerns  ?  Is  he  to  be  interested  solely  in  con- 
struction and  become  a  capable  superintendent  ?  Is  he 
to  be  a  managing  proprietor,  or  is  he  to  become  a 
power  to  appeal  to  in  matters  mechanical,  and  be  the 
consultee  of  all  who  see  fit  to  come  ? 


144  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

I  don't  know  which  of  these  specific  niches  Joe  will 
stand  himself  in,  and  more  than  that,  I  don't  care.  I 
only  know  that  whichever  way  his  lines  may  fall,  he 
will  be  none  the  worse  for  having  some  direct  and  in- 
tended preparation.  By  preparation  I  mean  educa- 
tion— that  substantial  sub-structure  on  which  all  expe- 
rience is  more  valuable  for  being  founded.  As  Joe's 
mind  has  taken  a  mechanical  turn,  so  should  the  pre- 
paratory education  take  a  mechanical  direction.  I 
have  been  nosing  around  among  the  credentials,  to 
wit,  the  out-put  of  our  technical  schools,  and  as  a  re- 
sult have  chosen  one. 

Joe  is  now  in  a  condition  to  enter  any  of  them,  and 
the  question  with  me  is — whether  to  recommend  him 
to  pack  up  and  enter  this  college,  or  to  lay  in  a  stock 
of  overall  stuff  and  go  into  the  shop. 

You  will  agree  with  me,  that  he  must  do  both  of  these 
things  at  some  time.  Which  had  best  be  done  first  ? 

Suppose  he  puts  on  his  good  clothes  and  goes  to 
college.  From  the  very  start  he  will  assume  upon  the 
future  great  position  he  will  take  in  the  world.  He 
will  assume  that  he  went  to  college  because  he  was  a 
superior  sort  of  a  Joe — none  of  your  common  stuff. 
He  will  develop  the  proper  ambition  and  superiority, 
and  will  receive  the  encouraging  smiles  of  his  instruct- 
ors ;  he  will  study  hard,  and,  under  the  guidance  of 
capable  and  wise  instructors,  will  gradually  absorb 
that  very  knowledge  he  went  after. 

Some  fine  day  he  will  return  and  lay  before  me  his 
sheepskin,  and  an  admirable  and  really  original  and 
excellent  thesis,  and  drawings  most  skillfully  executed 
by  his  own  hands,  aided  by  facilities  in  the  way  of 
ruling  machines  which  he  may  never  hope  to  see  again. 
I  will  feel  the  warmest  pride  in  this  boy  of  mine,  and 
in  answer  to  his  inquiries  I  will  probably  say,  "  Go  out 
and  try  the  world,  Joe." 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  145 

*  *     *     In  about  three  weeks  a  young  man  of  the 
name  of  Chordal  will  call  on  me  and  eloquently  ex- 
press himself  on  the  unappreciativeness  of  a  bigoted 
world,  that  don't  know  what  is  good  for  it. 

*  *     *     Joe  will  tell  me  of  his  conference  with  Mr. 
Simpson,  who  acknowledges  that  his  business  is  falling 
off,  on  account  of  a  lack  of  engineering  ability  in  su- 
perintending the  erection    of    their  work.     Oh,   yes  ; 
Joe  feels  capable,  and  fearlessly  goes  off  fifty  miles  to 
superintend    fifteen   men   putting    bowels    into   a  big 
brewery.     Men  say  to  Joe  :  "  What  do  you  want  done 
first?"     Joe  says  he  don't  know.     Men  say:    "This 
big  pulley  came  from  the  shop  without  being  balanced, 
the  shaft  runs  thirty  revolutions  ;  shall  we  let  it  go  ?" 
Joe  says  he  don't  know.     Men  want  to  know  which  of 
the  two  kinds  of  babbitt  this  box  is  to  be  poured  with. 
Joe  don't  know.     Leading  man  of  the  gang  writes  to 
Simpson  that  young  Chordal  is  a  nice  fellow  and  smart 
as  blazes,  but  don't  know  anything.  Simpson  recalls  his 
executive  officer,  and  in  a  fatherly  manner  advises  him 
to  go  into  a  shop  and  learn  the  trade,  and  tells  him  he 
will  make  his  mark.     Joe,  the  superior  Joe,  made  of 
superior  stuff,  born  to  lead  in  his  chosen  line,  trimmed 
to  fit  in  the  best  technical  schools,  author  of  a  thesis 
on  centrifugal  governors  having  valves  unalterably  re- 
lated to  the  centrifugal   elements — this  Joe   was  not 
born  to  learn  a  trade. 

*  *     *     I  make  no  suggestions  to  Joe,  and  bid  him 
good  bye,  as  he  starts  on  another  Quixotic  expedition. 
Two   brief  weeks,  and   again  I  take  his  hand.     This 
hand  seems  to  have  grown  smaller  and  not  quite  so 
self-important  in  its  grip.     I  ask  after  his  conquests. 
He  grimly  and  grittily  smiles  and  proceeds.     Says  he 
went  down  to  Philadelphia,  and  went  to  William  Sel- 
lers &  Co.,  whom  he  had  been  corresponding  with  ever 
since  he  went  to  college.     They  build  machine  tools, 


146      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 

and  at  college  their  machine  tools  were  held  up  to  him 
as  exponents  of  perfection,  as  test  channels  for  design. 
He  is  nicely  received  and  encouragingly  talked  to.  He 
is  asked  if  he  is  willing  to  spend  a  few  years  in  the 
shop.  He  answers  that  he  is  not  born  for  a  machinist, 
but  for  an  engineer.  If  Wm.  Sellers  &  Co.  can  put 
him  on  a  low  round  of  the  engineering  ladder  in  some 
place,  he  will  be  very  much  obliged  ;  then  he  will  see 
some  other  parties  he  wots  of.  They  appreciate  the 
situation,  and  with  real  regard  for  the  young  man  they 
own  to  such  a  ladder  being  on  the  premises  ;  nay  more, 
they  acknowledge  that  some  of  the  lower  rounds  still 
remain.  Joe  is  invited  to  ascend,  without  any  engage- 
ment which  might  result  in  mortifying  termination. 
He  reports  next  morning  with  a  few  classical  books 
and  a  kit  of  drawing  instruments  of  the  most  marvel- 
ous character.  Each  individual  instrument  and  piece 
of  instrument  fits  in  a  velvet  bed,  and  each  time  he. 
wants  to  use  something  he  must  take  the  pieces  out 
and  erect  the  instrument,  and  when  he  wants  to  put 
something  back  in  the  case  he  must  dismember  the 
whole  thing  and  screw  in  all  adjusting  screws.  His 
eight-inch  compasses  fit  in  the  case  when  both  trian- 
gular points  are  in,  a  condition  in  which  no  man  on 
earth  ever  uses  them. 

He  looks  around  among  the  draughtsmen  and  thinks 
that  his  eight-inch  compasses  cost  more  than  all  their 
instruments  put  together.  He  wonders  how  they  can 
do  any  refined  engineering  with  such  tools,  and  the 
other  draughtsmen  look  at  his  kit  and  wonder  if  that 
young  man  expects  to  do  any  quantity  of  practical 
work  with  such  tools  in  such  a  case,  and  they  wonder 
how  long  it  will  be  before  he  will  have  them  loose  in 
a  cigar  box. 

He  is  given  a  figured  pencil  sketch  of  a  device,  and 
is  told  to  follow  the  figured  sizes  and  form,  but  to  de- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  147 

tail  it  for  shop  use.  Do  no  scheming  whatever,  but 
draw  only.  He  does  so.  The  draughtsmen  admire 
the  skillful  execution,  and  the  powers  that  be  do  the 
same.  The  lines  are  clean  cut,  nicely  joined,  and  have 
extra  thickness  on  the  shadow  side.  His  drawing  is 
taken  away  for  an  hour  and  returned  by  his  sponsor. 
It  has  been  down  in  the  shop,  and  Joe  expresses  his 
horror  at  the  sacrilege.  The  sheet  is  dirty  and  greasy, 
and  only  his  fancy  shadow  lines  can  be  seen.  Joe 
scorns  to  ask  a  question,  and  suggests  that  he  make 
the  drawing  over  with  heavier  lines.  He  does  so ;  sees 
a  striking  resemblance  between  it  and  the  shop  draw- 
ings around  him,  which  he  saw  little  in  to  admire  be- 
fore. His  sponsor  calls  again  and  asks  if  it  will  be 
safe  to  send  that  drawing  to  Savannah  for  pattern 
makers  and  machinists  to  work  from.  Joe  asks  who 
is  going  to  take  it,  and  is  told  the  mail.  Joe  says  he 
will  write  the  proper  explanations,  and  does  so.  Twen- 
ty-two pages  of  legal  cap  to  one  sheet  of  detail  draw- 
ing. Sponsor  asks  what  the  legal  cap  is  for.  Joe  says 
it  is  to  explain  the  drawing.  Sponsor  asks  what  the 
drawing  is  for,  and  Joe  says  it  is  an  aid  to  the  legal 
cap,  and,  in  return,  is  told  that  drawings  are  sent 
away  daily  without  a  word  of  explanation.  It  is  the 
duty  of  detail  drawings  to  explain  themselves  fully. 
Joe  sees  he  has  much  to  learn  about  drawings.  He 
has  mastered  the  art  and  that  is  all.  He  is  now  in- 
structed to  make  a  drawing  of  a  two-foot  pulley,  six- 
inch  face,  proportions  to  be  functionally  correct.  He 
goes  at  it.  Refers  to  Rankine  and  Weisbach  and 
Willis  and  Fairbairn,  but  never  to  Joe.  He  is  too  wise 
for  that.  He  gets  his  pulley  drawn,  and  is  told  to  go 
down  in  the  shop  and  compare  it  with  a  similarly 
sized  pulley.  He  does  so  and  doubts  his  eyes.  The 
arms  of  the  pulley  are  about  eight  times  as  heavy  as 
the  arms  of  his  drawing,  and  he  used  five  as  a  factor 


148      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAb's  LETTERS. 

of  safety — and  the  old  pulley  has  two  broken  arms, 
He  goes  back  and  figures  the  whole  thing  over.  He 
takes  the  data  of  strains  to  his  sponsor  and  asks  him 
to  run  over  them.  Same  results  ;  showing  calculation 
to  be  right.  Sponsor  asks  him  where  he  got  his  strain 
data  from.  Joe  says  from  the  beltage.  Sponsor  asks 
him  what  broke  the  old  pulley.  Joe  goes  in  search  of 
knowledge  and  finds  it  broke  in  casting,  and  he  makes 
his  first  memorandum  of  experience,  namely  :  "  Belt 
strains  are  not  the  heaviest  strains  a  pulley  arm  may  be 
subjected  to."  His  sponsor  tells  him  if  he  would  spend 
a  few  years  in  the  shop  he  would  learn  several  things 
of  value. 

*  *     *     *     I  see  Joe  again.     He  tells  me  confiden- 
tially that  he  is  astonished  at  the  number  of  things  he 
don't  know,  which  he  must  know  before  anybody  will 
pay  him  ten  dollars  a  year  for  his  services.     He  has 
spent  a  year  coming  to  a  conclusion,  and  tells  me  he 
will  go  into  the  shop.     Asks  me  if  he  can  go  into  my 
shop.     I  tell  him  no  ;  most  decidedly  not.     He  must 
go  a  hundred  miles  from  me  or  any  one  else  he  can 
lean  on.     He  can't  get  any  self-reliance  out  of  my 
place. 

*  *     *     *     Joe  apprentices  himself  in  a  shop,  and 
wisely  chooses  a  bad  shop.      No    reamers,   no   fancy 
boring  bars,  no  twist  drills,  no  tools  big  enough  for 
the  work,  no  surface  plates,  no  scraped  angle  plates, 
no  system,  no  nothing.    When  Joe  graduates  from  this 
place  he  will  be  full  of  experience  indeed,  and  it  is 
hardly  likely  that  he  will  be  the  less  appreciative  of 
real  facilities  when  he  does  get  at  them.    His  constant 
letters  will  bear  constant  evidence  that  he  knows  the 
necessity  of  the  step,  but  feels  it  a  let-down.     He  can't 
get  into  full  sympathy  with  his  necessities.     He  feels 
out  of  place,  and  knows  he  is  in  place.     It  is  mortify- 
ing, disagreeable,  hard,  up-hill  work.     He  holds  a  col- 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.       149 

lege  degree,  but  his  soft  hands  have  got  hard  and  cal- 
lous, and  big  cracks  have  opened  in  them,  and  brass 
dust,  and  iron  dust,  and  oil  and  dirt  have  got  into  the 
cracks,  and  he  always  has  a  rag  on  some  finger.  Joe 
will  feel  as  though  he  had  started  wrong  in  some  way. 
*  *  *  At  a  late  educational  gathering,  Prof.  Hen- 
kle,  of  Salem,  Ohio,  wisely  stated  that  "  education  is 
power  rather  than  readiness."  Joe  will  appreciate  this, 
and  will  wish  the  readiness  had  come  first. 

Joe's  post-collegiate  shop  life  will  be  a  hard  one. 
Now,  suppose  I  don't  say  college  to  him,  suppose  I  let 
him  go  into  some  miserable  shop  which  he  will  be  glad 
to  leave  for  higher  fields  ;  will  not  the  seeds  carefully 
sown  by  college  professors  fall  in  ground  thirsty  for 
it — ground  which  the  old  and  poor  and  half-satisfying 
crops  of  the  shop  experience  only  stirred  up  into  stur- 
dy, ambitious  receptiveness  ?  Only  he  who  has  been 
athirst  upon  the  barren  plains  can  appreciatively  ab- 
sorb knowledge  of  certain  water-getting  processes. 
Will  it  not  be  better  to  clean  up  the  dirty  hands  than 
to  dirty  up  the  clean  ones  ? 

*  *     *     *     DO  vou  know  of  any  young  man  who 
went  from  shop  to  college,  and  wishes  he  had  reversed 
the   order  of  things  ?     Do   you    know  of   any   young 
man  who  went   from  college  to  shop,  and   wishes  he 
had  reversed  the  order  of  things  ? 

*  *     *     *     What   books   should  machinists    read  ? 
This  question  is  asked  of  some  one  supposed  to  know 
about   a   thousand    times   a   year.     Mechanics,    as    a 
general  thing,  are  pretty  well  advanced  in  years  when 
they  want  these  books.     They  can't  comprehend  any- 
thing fine  or  deep,  or  analytical,  and   cannot  spend 
time  to  attain  the  necessary  elementary  book  knowl- 
edge.    They   despise  a   book    which    treats   them    as 
children.     Walker  is  a  carpenter,  and  is  patronizingly 
urged  to  go  to  the  library  and  read  up  on  his  trade, 


150  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL/S    LETTERS. 

and  rise  in  the  world.  He  knows  nothing  of  books, 
and  takes  the  first  one  with  carpentry  on  the  back 
of  it  ;  say,  "  Constructive  Carpentry  Practically  Con- 
sidered." He  could  not  define  the  title  to  save  his 
neck,  but  proceeds  to  look  into  it.  He  finds  many 
demonstrations  and  geometrical  diagrams,  but  he 
can't  get  into  sympathy  with  the  thing ;  says  the 
author's  a  fool  who  couldn't  shove  a  saw,  and  he  puts 
the  book  away.  He  takes  another,  the  "Complete 
Carpenter."  On  the  first  page  he  sees  a  villainous 
cut  of  a  saw,  and  he  reads,  "  This  is  a  hand-saw, 
used  by  carpenters  to  cut  off  boards.  It  has  teeth 
upon  one  edge.  These  teeth  are  about  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  apart,  and  are  bent  alternately,  slightly 
to  the  right  and  left.  This  bending  is  termed  '  set,'  ' 
etc.,  etc.  He  puts  this  book  away  in  disgust,  and 
says  the  author  thinks  he  is  a  fool  who  can't  file 
a  saw. 

Walker  won't  read  one  book  and  can't  read  the 
other.  The  book  for  him  must  be  tailor-made,  and 
must  fit  him  exactly,  or  he  can't  get  any  good  out  of 
it. 

The  thing  is  a  problem,  but  there  is  one  good  thing 
about  it.  If  a  man  has  to  ask  what  to  read,  it  don't 
make  much  difference  what  he  does  read.  A  thirst  for 
knowledge  will  find  its  own  means  of  satisfaction,  and 
this  thirst  will  never  come  upon  a  man  in  middle  life. 
There  is  no  boy  so  circumstanced  in  this  whole-land, 
that  a  thirst  for  technical  knowledge  will  not,  in  a 
way,  develop  and  gratify  itself  before  he  is  twenty. 
If  there  is  anything  in  him,  he  will  have  formed  an 
acquaintanceship  with  books  in  general,  and  need  ask 
no  questions  relating  to  general  direction  of  study.  If 
such  an  acquaintanceship  has  not  been  formed,  friends 
need  hardly  regret  being  unable  to  suggest  a  proper 
path  of  study.  Of  course,  such  reading  is  mostly  done 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.      151 

and  mostly  appreciated  by  the  young  chappies  who 
are  priming  for  the  future.  If  owners  of  shops  will 
keep  one  eye  open  for  such  tendencies  they  will  find 
it  an  excellent  index  to  character,  and  a  pointer 
towards  an  excellent  plan  of  encouragement  which 
will  repay  ten  fold. 

*  *     *     *     I  Was  in  the  office  of  a  certain  engineer, 
the  other  day,  and  a  mutton-headed  boy,  about  nine- 
teen came  in.     He  was  a  machinist.     His  father  owned 
a  shop,  and  he  had  served  his  time  in  it.     He  wanted 
to   learn  to  "  draft,"  he  said.     Said  his  father  wanted 
him  to  learn  ;  he  wanted    to   learn   himself,   and    his 
father  would    pay  all  reasonable  bills.     Torsion,  the 
engineer,   began  to   catechize  him.     What  have  you 
ever  drawn  ?  ,  Nothing.     What  have  you  ever  made 
rude   sketches  of?     Nothing.     What   have   you    ever 
wanted  to  draw  ?     Don't  know  as  I   ever  wanted   to 
draw  anything,  and    could  not  make  a    "  draft"  if  I 
wanted  to,  because  I  never  learned  how.     That's  all 
right,  said  Torsion.     You  will  never  draft  anything, 
and  will  never  be  wanted  to.     I'll  see  your  father  this 
week.     Torsion  turned  to  me  and  said  he  had  a  dozen 
such  fellows  to  deal  with  every  month,  and   treated 
them  all  the  same.     But,  said  he,  when   some  greasy 
boy  slips  in  here,  and  pulls  out  some  horribly  original 
drawing,  and  asks  me  why  the  ink  lines  run  when  he 
puts  color  on,  or  how  a  fellow's  to  judge  good  India 
ink,  or  how  this  thing  is  to  be  drawn  so  another  can 
understand   it,   then    I  quit  work,   and  stay  by  that 
fellow,  and  place  my  time  and  library  and  office  at  his 
disposal. 

*  *     *    *     The  Nicholson  File  Co.,  of  Providence, 
sent  me  a  copy  of  their  treatise  on  files  lately.     Now 
this  splendid  little  book  would  find  more  appreciation 
in  the  shop  than  would  a  new  translation  of  the  Iliad 
among  the  blues.     Why,   under  heaven,   didn't   these 


152  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

folks  get  up  this  book  when  I  was  ruining  files  for  a 
living  !  If  I  could  take  this  book  with  me,  and  go 
back  over  the  ground  of  my  shop  life  and  become 
owner  of  what  I  could  save,  or  make,  by  the  instruc- 
tion imparted  by  it,  I  would  feel  able  to  and  justified 
in  putting  a  copy  of  this  book  into  the  hands  of  ten 
thousand  file-users  who  never  buy  files. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  153 


CHAP  TER    XIX. 

THE     TRAVELED     MACHINIST. — FAIR     PLAY     FOR    APPREN- 
TICES.— BRIGHT    AND    BLACK    FINISH. 

*  *     *     *      A    machinist    who   has    traveled    and 
worked  in  a  variety  of  shops,  is  always  a  more  valu- 
able and  desirable  man  than  one  who  has  not  done  so. 
If  a  man  comes  to  you  for  a  job,  and  you  find  he  has 
worked  in  twenty  different  shops,  you   feel  satisfied 
that  one,  at  least,  of  these  shops  was  something  like 
your  own,  and  that,  consequently,  the  man  may  fit. 
How  long  does  it  take  a  new  man  to  get  the  swing  of 
a  new  shop  ?     If  he  is  a  little  shy,  he  must  pass  the 
ordeal  of  fellow  criticism.     When  he  grabs  a  chipping 
hammer,  he  knows  a  dozen    men  are  looking  to  see 
if  he   knows  where   to   grab  the   handle.      He   don't 
know  whom  to  trust,  or  to  talk  to,  or  to  ask  questions 
of.    He  don't  know  how  your  work  is  done,  or  whether 
you  look   to  time  or  quality,  or  whether  you  sympa- 
thize with  or  blame  one  who  errs.     He  don't  know 
where  to  find  things,  he  don't  know  what  things  there 
are   to   find,  and  it  takes   things  a  long  time  to  get 
smoothed  up.     When  they  do  smooth  up,  this  man's 
value  begins  to  count.     If  you  and  he  had  had  years 
of  shop  association,  would  he  not  be  worth  more  to 
you  than  he  would  to  any  other  shop  ?     If  he  is  good 
for   anything,  you   would  know  what  he  is  good  for. 
If   he  is    good  for  nothing,  what   did    you    associate 
with  him  so  many  years  for  ? 

*  *     *     *     jf  Tubal   owns   a   machine   shop,    and 
graduates  an  apprentice  at  the  end  of  four  years,  and 
then  offers  that  apprentice,  say,  a  dollar  and  a  quarter 
a  day,  and  that  apprentice  goes  to  the  very  next  town, 
and  gets,  say,  a  dollar  and  seventy-five,  what  would 
you  think  ?     Would   you   say   the   policy  was    short- 


154  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S   LETTERS. 

sighted  on  the  part  of  Tubal  ?  Would  you  say  Tubal 
wanted  the  world  to  know,  as  if  by  a  brand,  that  a 
workman  of  Tubal's  manufacture  was  not  worth 
much  ;  or  would  you  believe  that  Tubal  was  sordid 
enough  to  try  to  take  an  advantage  of  the  semi- 
parental  position  he  had  occupied  ? 

*  *     *     *     There  are  many  shops  in  which  it  seems 
impossible  for  an  apprentice  to  get  justice  after  his 
time  is  out.     The  justice   I  refer  to   I  gauge   by  the 
measurement  of  outside  shops.     I  throw  up   my  nat 
ever}-  time  a  young  chap,  who  has  served  a  faithful 
term  of  aprenticeship,  skips  from  under  a  shop  which 
wants  to  own  him  too  cheaply. 

I  am  glad,  because  it  gets  the  boys  whatever  pay 
the  world  will  give  them,  and  it  makes  them  travel, 
and  travel  makes  them  wiser. 

*  *     *     *     Some  machinists  judge  of  a  workman's 
skill  by  the  general  elegance  and  nice  appearance  of 
the  work  done.     I  never  could  look  at  machine  work 
this  way.     Skill  is  an   element  of  the  process,  not   of 
the   result.     Many   a  rough    thing   may  be  skillfully 
done,  and  many  a   fine  thing  unskillfully  done.     The 
workman  in  a  watch  factory  may  be  perfect,  but  that 
is  no  more  reason  that  he  is  more  skillful  than  the 
perfect  man  in  a  reaper  shop. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  nice  work.  You  turn  a 
sewing  machine  upside  down  and  find  many  qualities 
of  work  all  equally  well  done.  A  neatly-shaped,  well- 
surfaced,  untouched  drop-forging,  strikes  your  eye 
and  stands  criticism.  Flat  parts  have  a  flat  finish — 
a  hard,  high  polish,  and  pure  surface  generally,  and 
you  pronounce  them  well  done.  Small  parts  generally 
have  a  certainty  and  decisiveness  about  their  shape 
and  surface,  and  meet  your  approval. 

Screws,  without  regard  to  their  proportion  of  size 
or  adaptation  to  purposes,  if  they  have  that  instant 


EXTRACTS    FROM     CHORDAL*S    LETTERS.  155 

appearance  of  an  intention  well  carried  out,  we  call 
tip-top. 

But  look  at  another  machine,  with  the  screws  and 
other  parts  of  such  a  shape  as  to  indicate  at  once  that 
such  was  not  the  exact  intention  ;  with  polished  sur- 
faces, having  a  soft,  wavy,  or  washed  appearance  ; 
forgings,  so  far  from  the  proper  thing  as  to  show  tool 
work  on  corrected  parts  ;  castings  with  clearances 
filed  in  them  ;  and  certain  surfaces  which  seem  to 
have  changed  their  intention  when  half  done  ;  these 
things,  you  say,  are  unskillfully  done. 

There  is  no  doubt  about  one  of  these  things  being 
skillfully  done,  and  the  other  not,  but  the  very  same 
workmen  may  have  done  them.  The  management 
was  unskillful,  at  any  rate,  in  one  case. 

A  thing  don't  have  to  be  elegant  to  be  well  done. 
The  bad  machine  was  undoubtedly  intended  to  be 
well  done  without  being  nice.  As  such  it  was  an 
abortion,  and  it  will  generally  be  found  more  difficult 
to  do  good  work  without  refinement  than  to  do  it 
finely. 

*  *     *     *     If   you    want    good    work,  you   tell   a 
skilled  man,  provided  with  proper  facilities,  to  do  his 
best,  and  he  does  it,  and  you  get  your  work.     But  tell 
him  to  make  it  as  well  as  can  be  made,  but  to  pay  no 
attention  to  niceness,  and  your  skillful  man  is  mixed. 
He   fails  entirely  to  comprehend  the    situation,  and 
thinking   you  mean. general  cheapness  of    work,  he 
slouches  everything,  and  probably  loses  his  old  skill 
in  course  of  time. 

*  *     *     *     Some  of  the  work  done  on  mowing  ma- 
chines to-day  is  as  good  as  was  ever  done  on  locomo- 
tives, or  machine  tools,  or  sewing  machines,  or  watches. 
The  men  are  as  skillful,  and  the  intentions  are  as  well 
executed.     The  men  could  not  change  places.     The 
skillful  man  does  bad  work  when  he  puts  his  work  in 


156  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

the  wrong  place,  as  he  does  when  he  puts  it  on  one 
piece  of  a  reaper  when  the  whole  work  should  have 
been  put  on  six  reapers.  Try  to  get  good  reaper  work 
out  of  a  bad  machinist,  or  a  machine  tool  man,  or  a 
sewing  machine  man.  You  soon  find  he  don't  know 
how.  Try  the  reaper  man  on  link  work,  or  a  lathe 
carriage,  or  a  needle  bar.  You  soon  find  he  don't 
know  how.  The  work  in  both  cases  will  show  unmis- 
takable evidence  of  having  been  badly  and  unskillfully 
done,  and  still  the  men  are  known  to  be  skillful.  To 
put  skilled  labor  at  the  right  work  is  the  duty  of 
skilled  management.  Lead  lapping  a  reaper  journal 
would  be  an  unskillful  process.  It  is  the  fault  of  the 
manager,  not  of  the  man.  Finishing  an  engine  crank- 
pin  with  a  file  would  be  an  unskillful  process,  the 
fault  of  the  manager,  not  of  the  man. 

*  *     *     *     A  lack    of   uniformity  in   one   piece   is 
what  often  gives  a  workman  away.     He  planes  a  fat 
piece,    and    half   way   across    the   job,    the    character 
changes.     It  attracts  and  repels  you,  for  you   see  at 
once  that  whatever  the  intention  was  about  the  sur- 
face, that  intention  was  not  carried  out.     You  can't  say 
that  the  surface  is  any  the  worse  for  the  variety,  but 
there  is  a  lingering    suspicion  that   the  workman  if 
liable  to  give  down  on  almost  anything.     You  think 
the   same,  when    you    see  a  piece  of   shafting   which 
changes  color  three  .or  four  times  in  its  length.     A 
clean,   pure,    continuous   roughin-g   cut   always   looks 
finer  than  a  finishing  cut  that  seems  doubtful  about 
how  to  look,  and  presents  a  variety  of  surfaces  in  a 
short  stretch. 

*  *     *     *     If    a    good,    fine    job   don't    look   fine 
enough,   you    can    go   ahead    and    make   it   look  fine 
enough.     You    simply    stopped  too  soon,    but  if  you 
want  a  good  job  with  the  hifalutin'  left  off,  and   you 
find  it  begins  to  look  "  ratty,"  you  can  only  remedy 


EXTRACTS  FROM   CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.  157 

the  matter  by  going  back  on  the  original  intention 
and  doing  it  finely. 

*  *  *  *  One  of  the  most  difficult  things  known 
is  to  get  a  tip-top  job  done  with  the  finish  omitted. 

There  are  certain  engine  builders  who  build  two 
kinds  of  engines,  which  they  denominate  "  bright  " 
and  "black."  "Both  exactly  the  same,  as  far  as  real 
merit  is  concerned,"  you  know.  The  bright  kind  has 
a  miscellaneous  lot  of  finish  on  the  details,  the  shaft 
and  wheel-rim  and  bed-top  are  finished,  a  polished 
governor  is  ordered,  nuts  and  bolt  heads  polished, 
brass  work  of  the  nicest  kind,  blued  set  screws,  &c. 

Now  it's  all  fine  enough  to  stuff  a  customer  with  the 
idea  that  one  engine  is  as  good  as  the  other,  but  it  is 
false  all  the  same.  You  get  an  order  for  a  bright  en- 
gine. You  cast  the  cylinder.  There's  a  blow  in  the 
flange.  Do  you  use  it  ?  No.  Do  you  break  it  up  ? 
No.  You  put  it  in  the  casting  shed.  What  for? 
Why  to  use  on  some  engine  not  "bright,"  you  know. 
Another  is  cast  and  bored  and  a  scab  or  two  develops. 
You  put  it  in  the  casting  shed  with  the  other.  It  will 
come  into  play  all  right.  Some  lunk-head  drills  a 
cylinder  head  wrong.  You  lay  it  away.  It  can  be 
plugged  and  used  on  another  engine.  The  pillow 
block  gets  poured  with  "  that  good  babbitt."  A  stuff- 
ing stud  gets  a  thread  or  two  torn  out,  or  it  fits  the 
nut  too  loose.  "  Make  another,  Harry,  but  save  that 
one."  Two  or  three  cylinder  studs  are  fitted  too  loose 
in  the  flange.  Are  they  crowded  in  hard  on  the 
shoulder  so  as  to  pass  muster  ?  No.  But  they  will 
be  crowded  into  another  engine  in  a  month  or  so,  but 
not  a  "  bright  "  engine.  The  connecting-rod  brasses 
don't  seem  to  work  just  right  under  a  tool.  Save 
them.  "  Do  you  want  iron  set  screws  in  here,  sir  ?" 

"  No,  siree,  young  man.  Put  in  good,  nicely  fitted, 
tempered  steel  screws."  The  nuts  on  hand  won't  do 


15&  EXTRACTS    FkOM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

for  this  engine.  They  are  not  good  enough.  Tom  is 
told  to  spread  himself  on  the  piston  packing.  The  fly 
wheel  and  eccentric  keys  are  driven  out  to  see  if  they 
were  fitted  well.  The  valve  receives  extra  care.  The 
crank-pin,  for  a  wonder,  is  made  round,  and  so  are  the 
main  journals.  Stub  ends  are  made  perfect.  Hexnuts 
are  hexagon  and  uniform.  No  lumps  are  allowed  on 
the  main  shaft.  The  guides  are  straight  and  flat,  and 
the  cross-head  is  brought  fair  all  round,  no  matter  how 
much  work  it  makes.  The  eccentric  don't  "  cam  "  side- 
ways, and  the  strap  fits  it  when  the  job  is  done  ;  and 
maybe  a  cut  will  be  taken  over  the  bottom  of  the  bed, 
and  the  question  as  to  whether  the  old  foundation 
washer  pattern  was  just  the  thing  comes  up  ;  the  fin- 
ish on  the  connecting  rod  shows  it  to  be  good  iron. 
If  necessary,  the  president's  desk  will  be  wrecked  to 
get  well  seasoned  walnut  to  jacket  the  cylinder  with, 
the  spade  handle  on  the  valve-stem  joint  is  the  second 
one  made  for  the  job,  spanners  are  made  to  fit  stuffers, 
solid  wrenches  ditto,  oil  cups  are  selected  with  a  view 
to  lubrication,  the  cylinder  oiler  is  studied  on  before 
selection,  the  cylinder  cocks  have  drain  pipes  attached, 
and  so  on  through  everything. 

Now,  when  you  took  this  order  for  a  bright  engine, 
it  was  a  hurried  order,  and  you  were  busy  on  good 
paying  work.  You  had  a  new  "  black  "  engine  unsold 
upon  the  floor,  made  from  the  same  patterns  you  pro- 
posed to  make  the  bright  ones  from— just  exactly  the 
same,  you  know,  "except  in  looks  and  price."  Now, 
why  in  the  world  didn't  you  take  that  black  engine 
apart,  put  a  red-hot  finish  on  the  parts,  put  the  extra 
finish  on  extra  parts,  order  a  bright  governor,  deliver 
the  engine,  get  your  money,  and  call  the  transaction 
complete?  Why  didn't  you  do  this  simple  thing? 
Simply  because  you  knew  very  well  that  the  black  en- 
gine was  not  good  enough  to  make  a  bright  engine  of. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's     LETTERS.  159 

*  *  *  *  The  idea  that  by  omitting  useless  finish, 
and  keeping  the  essential  parts  the  same,  the  work  will 
be  cheapened,  has  ted  more  than  one  fine  mechanic 
into  years  of  trouble.  One  of  these  superior  mechanics 
says  to  himself  :  "  I  intend  building  machinists'  tools  ; 
I  see  that  those  in  the  market  are  excellent  and  highly 
finished.  This  finish  costs  money  ;  I  will  leave  it  off 
and  save  that  much  cost,  and  by  doing  the  real  work 
in  a  perfect  manner,  I  will,  in  course  of  years,  win  for 
myself  a  name  as  a  manufacturer  of  tools  of  superior 
excellence  at  low  prices  ;  I  will  thus  be  doing  real 
good."  Our  enthusiast  will  go  at  it,  and  his  first  fruits 
will  look  rough  to  himself  and  his  customers,  and  he 
will  be  astounded  at  the  cost.  He  improves  the  char- 
acter of  the  essential  workmanship  and  strives  to  reach 
perfection.  The  work  gets  better,  but  the  cost  in- 
creases largely.  To  cut  down  the  cost,  he  fills  the  air 
with  system,  and  brings  into  play  the  keenest  of  manu- 
facturing wit.  This  will  run  on  for  years,  and  he  will 
finally  be  compelled  to  say  to  himself  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  him  to  compete  with  builders  who  do  lots  of 
unnecessary  work  on  their  product.  There  is  no  earth- 
ly hope  of  ever  being  able  to  get  unfinished  work  as 
cheap  as  finished  work.  The  cheaper  design  costs  the 
most  money.  The  amount  of  functional  service,  and 
the  character  of  contacts,  and  the  nature  of  material, 
is  not  a  whit  better,  but  still  the  cheapest  machine 
costs  the  most  money.  The  machine  designer,  who 
leaves  that  little  thing  called  human  nature  out  of 
the  design,  who  thinks  his  own  broad  ideas  will  meet 
with  a  response  in  the  minds  of  his  workmen,  makes  a 
grand  mistake.  He  must  make  a  virtue  of  his  demerit, 
and  must  invent  arguments  to  prove  that  finish  is  a 
damage  and  that  merit  associates  with  paint  only. 


l6o  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS, 


CHAPTER     XX 

SACKETT'S  THEORIES  OF  WAGES   AND  FINANCE. — SYSTEM 
OF   GAUGES. — NEWTON'S  CASTING  ROOM. — WHO   SHALL 

CLEAN    CASTINGS  ? — COUNTRY    MOULDERS. 

•  *  *  *  *  While  I  was  in  Sackett's  office  the  other 
day,  McMiller  came  in  and  asked  for  money  between 
pay  days.  Sackett  heard  him  and  rated  him  soundly 
for  being  in  need  of  money,  and  so  careless  of  the 
future  as  to  have  to  draw  pay  for  the  present  necessi- 
ties. Found  he  had  not  been  sick,  nor  had  any  of  his 
folks,  nor  had  he  taken  a  trip  to  the  sea  shore,  nor 
bought  bonds  or  real  estate — bought  nothing.  Worked 
hard  every  day  at  good  pay  and  wanted  ten  .dollars 
advanced  !  Sackett  began  to  look  sick  and  disgusted. 
Went  and  fished  old  pay-rolls,  and  showed  McMiller 
that  he  had  received  and  spent  more  money  in  the  last 
twelve  years  than  any  small  store-keeper  in  the  whole 
town  could  possibly  have  made.  Mack  couldn't  say 
anything,  but  it  made  him  feel  rich  to  see  what  money 
had  gone  through  his  fingers,  and  awfully  poor  to  see 
how  little  had  stuck  to  them.  Sackett  got  mad  as  he 
thought  of  the  thing,  and  finally  told  Mack  he  could 
not  draw  any  pay,  but  he  would  lend  him  ten  dollars 
for  a  week  ;  "but  mind  you,"  added  he,  "  I  am  going 
to  make  an  example  of  you.  There  is  some  excuse  for 
a  lazy  drunkard  with  a  slouchy  wife,  or  for  a  smart 
young  chap  who  dresses  and  lives  proudly,  but  there 
is  none  for  you.  I  never  saw  you  with  nice  clothes  on, 
and  never  saw  you  and  your  family  out  enjoying  an 
evening  at  a  theatre,  or  any  other  place,  and  I  will  bet 
a  quarter  you  buy  heavy  sugar  at  higher  price  than 
sawed  block,  and  pay  more  for  coal  oil  than  I  do,  and 
pay  more  for  your  clothes.  You  get  good  pay — a 
blamed  sight  better  than  I  do,  and  I  am  bound  some 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.       163 

one  around  this  place  shall  make  some  money.  If  you 
and  your  wife,  after  studying  common  sense  for  the 
next  year,  can't  show  me  a  certificate  of  deposit  for 
three  hundred  dollars,  you  shall  earn  your  butterless 
bread  in  somebody  else's  shop."  Mack  said  nothing, 
and  went  into  the  shop  again,  but  Sackett  didn't  stop. 
"Half  of  them  are  idiots,"  said  he,  "just  like  Mack. 
He  will  go  and  buy  a  miserable  coat  of  the  Jews  for 
eight  dollars.  The  coat  don't  fit  him,  and  would  take 
the  pride  out  of  any  man  who  ever  lived,  and  I  will 
wager  he  has  bought  six  of  them  since  I  paid  twenty- 
five  dollars  for  the  one  I  have  on.  I  expect  the  same 
judicious  plan  is  followed  in  all  the  family  expenses. 
I  can  see  why  a  drunkard  don't  save  money,  but  why 
McMiller  and  his  wife  can't  save  money  on  three  dol- 
lars per  day,  I  don't  understand.  If  I  should  raise  his 
pay  to  six  dollars,  he  would  not  live  any  better  or  save 
any  more  money.  Chordal,  I  tell  you  some  of  the 
men  in  the  shops  make  me  sick.  I  hammered  three 
thousand  dollars  out  of  the  trade  as  a  jour  before  I  set 
up  shop  myself,  and  I  never  got  three  dollars  a  day  in 
my  life  ;  but  I  didn't  save  my  money  by  wearing  Jew 
coats  or  washing  myself  with  soft  soap  ;  and  I  went 
fishing  once  in  a  while  without  fear  of  starving  Mary 
and  the  girls.  The  working-men's  millennium  will 
come  when  some  man  will  drop  among  them  and 
teach  them  common  sense  about  money  matters."  As 
soon  as  this  benediction  or  malediction,  or  whatever 
you  may  call  it,  was  over,  I  left  Sackett's  place  without 
disposition  to  argue  against  known  facts. 

*  *  *  *  I  see  that  the  telegraphic  engineers  are 
discussing  the  subject  of  a  new  wire  gauge,  but  just 
what  the  grievances  are,  or  what  the  proposed  reme- 
dies are,  I  have  been  unable  to  gather. 

My  own  personal  objection  to  the  wire  gauge  is  its 
existence.  The  object  of  gauging  anything  is  to 


164      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

ascertain  some  dimension.  The  dimension  wanted  is 
invariably  expressible  instantly  in  standard  units  of 
dimension,  but  the  awkwardness  of  trade  has  buried 
the  sweet  simplicity  of  gauging  under  a  cloud  of  tech- 
nical "  numbers"  which  don't  express  anything  at  all. 
To  say  that  a  piece  of  wire  is  number  seven,  don't 
^ive  any  direct  idea  of  size,  which  is  the  only  thing  we 
vant  to  know.  The  only  information  such  an  expres- 
aon  gives  us  is  that  the  wire  fits  in  some  notch  some- 
where, and  that  said  notch  is  yclept  No.  7.  To  find 
out  how  big  the  wire  is,  you  have  simply  to  measure 
the  notch.  If  the  notch  is  hard  to  measure,  or  there  is 
doubt  about  the  notch  fitting  just  right,  the  approxi- 
mate size  of  the  notch  may  be  arrived  at  by  measuring 
the  wire — all  very  simple. 

*  *  *  *  The  whole  plan  of  giving  numbers  to 
things,  whose  dimensions  might  as  well  be  given  right 
out  in  meeting,  is  a  humbug.  A  number  seven  wire 
isn't  the  same  size  as  a  number  seven  boot,  and  there 
is  no  way  of  finding  the  size  sought  for,  without  being 
-able  to  figure  on  what  the  notch,  the  wire,  or  the 
Doot  is  said  to  fit.  Why  not  say  a  number  six  barrel, 
or  a  number  four  dose  of  medicine,  or  a  number  nine 
mule,  or  a  number  fourteen  locomotive,  or  a  number 
thirteen  and  a  half  greenback,  meaning  thereby  ten 
dollars,  or  a  number  twelve  diamond,  or  a  number 
eight  journey,  or  a  number  seven  postage  stamp,  or  a 
number  three  cheese,  or  number  ten  pile  of  coal ! 

Imagine  a  brakesman  yelling  out  at  Cairo,  "  Number 
eleven,  for  refreshments  !"  All  of  this  system  of  num- 
bering could  be  easily  carried  out,  and  be  a  great  deal 
handier  than  the  present  system  of  wire  gauges. 

The  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  systems 
would  make  them  a  nuisance,  just  as  the  wire  gauge 
is  now.  When  you  write  to  a  man  to  know  how  big  a 
certain  wire  is,  it  is  presumed  that  you  want  to  know 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS.  165 

just  what  you  ask  ;  that  is,  how  big  the  wire  is.  In 
reply  you  are  generally  told  that  it  will  fit  tolerably 
nice,  or  "  scant,"  or  "full,"  in  a  certain  hole  marked 
No.  14. 

If  you  don't  care  much,  this  may  satisfy  you.  If 
you  care  a  little  about  the  matter,  you  had  better  send 
for  the  identical  hole  referred  to.  If  you  care  very 
much  you  will  send  for  a  sample  of  the  wire. 

*  *  *  *  From  the  looks  of  things,  one  would 
suppose  that  in  the  year  one,  some  man  made  the  first 
piece  of  wire,  and  filed  a  notch  to  fit  it.  After  being 
some  time  in  business,  he  had  made  several  sizes  of 
wire,  and  had  filed  several  notches.  Then  these 
notches  were  numbered  and  became  the  happy  stand- 
ard of  an  intelligent  people.  Nobody  knew  the 
dimension  of  these  wires  or  these  notches,  and  prob- 
ably there  was  then  no  particular  reason  for  caring- 
After  a  while,  somebody  wanted  wire  which  wouldn't 
fit  any  of  these  notches.  Here  was  trouble  in  the 
camp.  What  business  had  any  man  to  want  anything 
which  would  not  fit  any  of  the  old  holes  ?  The  wire 
drawer  forgot,  the  day  before  he  numbered  the 
notches,  the  day  when  there  were  but  three  notches, 
maybe.  In  obedience  to  the  law  of  progress,  the 
wire  gauge  was  overhauled,  and  new  notches,  to  fit 
new  wire  which  had  been  made,  were  added,  and  all 
were  re-numbered.  The  new  gauge,  we  will  suppose, 
was  "adopted."  Now,  it  is  very  much  easier  to  uni- 
versally adopt  a  new  thing,  than  to  universally  throw 
away  an  old  thing,  and,  as  a  consequence,  there  were 
two  wire  gauges  in  use  very  early  in  the  game.  Then 
troublesome  customers  got  more  odd  sizes,  and  new 
gauges  were  adopted,  and  even  to-day  there  are  in  use 
in  wire  and  sheet  mills  gauges  bearing  the  following 
distinctive  names,  viz:  Birmingham,  Stubs',  Washburn 
&  Moen,  American,  Brown  and  Sharpe,  Trenton  Iron 


l66  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 

Co.,  Standard,  Music  Wire,  Steel  Wire,  G.  W.  Prentiss 
and  English.  Some  of  these  gauges  are  just  alike,  and 
simply  have  two  names,  but  it's  well  for  a  man  to  know 
what  he's  doing  when  he  orders  by  numbers.  Why 
not  abolish  all  those  long  names  and  give  the  different 
gauges,  designating  numbers  ?  It  would  be  so  handy, 
you  know. 

*  *     *     *     Somebody   took  a   notion    to   measure 
wire  gauges  one  day,  and  then  we  came  into  posses- 
sion of  memorandums  of  the  sizes.     But  these  sizes 
were  all  in  fractions,  and  not  in  units.     They  could 
not  be  pronounced  hardly,  and  didn't  sound  like  a  size 
at  all.     For  instance,  No.  32  brass   English  gauge  is 
.01125  °f  an  incn  thick,  if  you  know  how  thick  that  is, 
and  No.  16,  instead  of  being  half  as  thick  as  No.  32,  is 
.065  of  an  inch,  or  no  relation  at  all. 

*  *     *     *         Brown  and  Sharpe,  in  devising  their 
system,  found  that  in  existing  gauges  the  sizes  jumped 
irregularly.     There  was  a  big  difference  between  two 
neighboring  small  sizes,  and  a  trifling  difference  be- 
tween two  neighboring  large  sizes — sometimes  there 
was  and  sometimes  there  wasn't ;  it  was  all  haphazard. 
If  our  coinage  was  on  the  same  plan,  we  would  have  a 
five-cent  piece,  then  a  seven-cent  piece,  then  a  twenty- 
cent  piece,  then  a  sixty-cent  piece,  then  a  dollar  piece, 
then  a  two-dollar  piece,  then  a  two-dollar  and  fifteen- 
cent  piece,  then  a  two-dollar  and  eighteen-cent  piece, 
and  so  on,  skipping  around  at  random  ;  so  we  would 
have  to  use  big  money  to  make  small  change. 

*  *     *     *     The  fault  with  every  plan  of  fine  meas- 
urement is  that  it  gives  us  results  in  awkward  frac- 
tions.   The  inch  being  the  unit,  everything  small  must 
be  some  unpronounceable  fraction  of  an  inch.     What 
we  want  is  a  unit  so  fine. that  the  minute  measure- 
ments of  modern  practise  may  deal  in  whole  numbers. 

*  *     *     *     The    much  -  abused    metrical    system. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.      167 

whether  we  ever  fall  in  with  it  or  not,  possesses  one 
great  virtue.  Its  divisions  become  units.  While  the 
name  of  millimeter  implies  a  division  or  fraction  of  a 
meter,  it  nevertheless  is  a  unit  and  stands  on  its  own 
bottom,  which  a  vulgar  or  decimal  fraction  can't  do. 
If  a  millimeter  was  small  enough  we  could  give  mi- 
nute sizes  in  them,  without  division.  But  it  is  not  fine 
enough  for  the  coarsest  work  of  to-day.  It  is  about 
four  one-hundredths  of  an  inch,  when  we  want  our  fine 
unit  to  be  at  most  a  quarter  of  a  thousandth.  If  we 
carry  the  metrical  division  two  steps  further,  we  have 
some  kind  of  a  meter  which  will  be  about  the  third  of 
a  thousandth,  or  about  the  difference  between  the  two 
finest  numbers  on  the  American  wire  gauge.  This 
extraction  has  a  name,  but  I  don't  know  what  it  is. 

The  metrical  system  has  been  carried  upward  and 
downward  from  the  meter,  and  the  results  have  been 
named,  I  presume,  but  the  every-day  books  don't  give 
anything  finer  than  millimeters.  Somebody  who  knows 
more  about  French  than  I  do,  can  probably  tell  you 
what  the  name  of  this  fine  unit  really  is,  or  what  it 
might  properly  be. 

*  *     *     *     This  nameless  little  meter  could  be  read 
on  a  pocket  vernier  gauge,  and  would  give  a  -simple 
expression  to  any  fine,  practical  dimension  dealt  with 
in  the  work  of  the  artisan.     With  such  a  tool,  it  might 
be  possible  that  some  day  a  paper  maker  would  know 
something  about  the  thickness  of  paper.     I  never  saw 
a  paper  maker  yet  who  had  any  earthly  conception  of 
the  difference  in  thickness  between  two  pieces  of  paper. 
One  is  heavy,  the  other  is  light.     If  these  paper  men 
were  bright  they  would  devise  some  system  of  num- 
bers for  the  thickness  of  paper. 

*  *     *     *    Newton  has  had  a  splendid  shop  running 
for  about  six  years.     He  built  it  after  deliberate  plan- 
ning, and  he  seems  to  have  almost  every  modern  con- 


l68  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS. 

venience.  But  with  all  his  conveniences  finely  schemed 
and  finely  executed,  Newton  finds  he  has  been  guilty 
of  a  grand  oversight,  and  he  sometimes  expresses  a 
wish  that  the  whole  shop  would  tumble  down  so  he 
could  build  it  over  again. 

*  *  *  *  It  is  really  a  fact  that  Newton  has  no 
place  to  keep  castings.  His  foundry  can  make  them, 
and  his  shop  can  work  them  up,  but  in  the  interim  be- 
tween operations  there  is  not  a  place  where  these  cast- 
ings may  rightfully  lay  their  heads.  There  is  no  place 
for  them  in  the  foundry,  the  cleaning  room  is  fully 
occupied  by  castings  being  cleaned,  and  there  is  no 
yard-room  which  is  not  legitimately  and  fully  occupied. 
Every  manager  knows  that,  while  there  is  no  necessity 
for  harboring  old,  useless,  out-of-fashion,  or  cracked 
castings,  many  tons  of  standard  work  must  be  kept  on 
hand  untouched  for  many  weeks. 

Poor  Newton  now  finds  that  there  is  only  one  place 
to  put  these  castings  in,  and  that  is  in  the  machine  shop. 
As  a  consequence,  he  now  sees  piles  and  piles  of  cast- 
ings wherever  he  may  look.  Alongside  lathes  and 
planers  and  drills  and  slotters  and  boring  mills,  and 
under  and  on  top  of  lathes,  planers,  drills,  slotters,  and 
boring  mills,  are  these  things  piled.  They  hurt  the 
eyeballs  of  the  manager,  they  annoy  the  men,  they 
prevent  cleaning  up  the  shop,  they  demoralize  things 
generally. 

The  place  originally  planned  for  a  setting-up  floor, 
is  now  a  trifling  space,  bounded  on  all  sides  by  a 
craggy  shore  of  untouched  castings.  In  the  disorder 
of  these  castings,  there  is  no  keeping  track  of  them, 
and  it  is  almost  always  easier  to  get  new  castings  from 
the  foundry  than  to  unearth  old  ones  from  these  piles. 
Newton  swears  he  won't  put  up  with  it  any  longer, 
and  is  now  planning  a  general  confiscation  of  the  pat- 
tern store  room  as  a  casting  store.  He  will  put  another 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  169 

story  on  the  pattern  shop  to  give  him  a  pattern  room. 
He  purposes  to  divide  hi$  new  casting  room,  nee  pattern 
warehouse,  by  low  fences  into  small  spaces  devoted  to 
each  separate  product  he  builds,  so  that  castings  may 
be  found  instanter,  and  the  whole  stock  kept  free  and 
in  subjection. 

*  *     *     *     This  reminds  me  that  in  some    little 
country  shops  there  is  forever  and  eternally  a  wrangle 
over  the  question  of  whose  business  it  is  to  clean  up 
castings.     Sometimes  the  foundry  will  clean  up  cast- 
ings nicely,  more  to  see  what  the  castings  look  like, 
than  to  perform  a  duty,  and   sometimes  they  won't. 
Sometimes  the  foundry  wants  core  rods,  or  anchors, 
or  spiders,  or  some  big  core  to  saw  up  into  little  ones, 
in  which  case  they  may  clean  the  casting  before  they 
get  done  with  it.     Sometimes  the  cupola  tender  has 
time   to   clean    castings,    and   sometimes   he   doesn't. 
Sometimes  there  will  be  a  gawk  of  a  man  employed 
for  the  purpose,  and  the  foundry  will  want  this  gawk 
for  a  shoveler  as  soon  as  the  castings  are  shaken  out. 

*  *     *     *     Some  lathesman  has  had  orders  for  a 
week,  to  snatch  a  certain  gear  as  soon  as  it  is  cast  and 
"bore  her  out  two  and  seven-sixteenths  full."     This 
morning  he  is  told  that  the  boys  managed  to  get  a 
good  one  cast  last  night,  so  he  goes  into  the  foundry 
and,  among  a  lot  of  other  stuff,  he  sees  a  lump  of  sand, 
which  he  recognizes  as  being  pregnant  with  the  thing 
sought  for.     He  kicks  the  thing  around  a  little,  curses 
it  a  good  deal,  jabs  some  of  the  sand  loose  with  an  old 
core  rod,  and  puts  some  finishing  touches  on  it  with 
an  old  file  stub,  and  then  trundles  it  into  the  shop, 
leaving   a   track    of    burnt   sand    wherever  he    goes. 
When  he  gets  to  his  lathe  he  concludes  to  take  a  little 
more   loose  sand  off.     He  rattles  it  off  with  a  ham- 
mer.    Then  he  chucks  the  job,  and  in  knocking  it  into 
trueness    he    gets   some   more   sand   off.     The   lathe 


1 70  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

catches  all  the  sand  removed  by  this  process.  Then 
he  bores  her  out  two  and  seven-sixteenths  full,  and 
throws  it  on  the  floor.  Some  viseman  cuts  a  key  seat 
in  it,  and  it  is  ready  for  shipping.  Not  a  grain  of 
sand  has  been  purposely  removed,  which  did  not  in 
some  way  interfere  with  the  handling  or  working  of 
the  job.  No  one  has  pretended  to  clean  this  casting. 
If  this  machinist  had  gone  to  the  foundry-men  and 
said  anything  about  cleaning, he  would  have  been  told 
that  nobody  had  time  just  now.  If  he  had  gone  to  the 
head  boss  of  the  shop,  he  would  have  been  sent  to  the 
foundry-men.  If  he  had  stood  around  that  pile  of 
castings  till  somebody  did  have  time  to  clean  his  job, 
the  aforesaid  head  boss  would  have  happened  in  and 
told  him  to  "  clean  her  up  and  get  her  done."  Our 
machinist  knows  all  about  this,  so  he  don't  say  boo  to 
anybody.  He  takes  as  little  sand  off  as  possible,  and 
gets  the  job  off  his  hands. 

*  *  *  *  The  worst  moulders  in  this  wide  world 
are  the  moulders  who  work  in  these  little  country 
shops.  Unlike  the  country  machinists,  they  don't 
know  how  to  do  good  work  with  poor  facilities;  and, 
unlike  city  moulders,  they  don't  know  what  facilities 
to  ask  for.  Not  one  in  five  of  them  knows  anything 
about  moulding.  Not  one  in  a  dozen  can  cast  a  ten 
pound  sash  weight  without  a  two  pound  shrink  in  it. 
Not  one  in  a  dozen  can  cast  a  straight-armed  pulley 
at  all. 

The  foreman  of  such  foundries  is  generally  the 
loudest  mouthed  braggart  that  ever  rammed  sand. 
He  will  brag  of  the  fine  shops  he  has  had  charge  of  ; 
he  will  brag  of  the  difficult  castings  he  has  made,  when 
others  have  failed  ;  he  will  brag  of  his  superior  knowl- 
edge of  irons,  and  of  sand,  and  of  facings.  And  still 
he  will  turn  out  castings,  day  after  day,  which  are  not 
near  so  good  looking  as  the  pig  iron  he  melts  up. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  iyi 

They  will  be  warped,  and  strained,  and  crooked,  and 
hard  beyond  all  belief ;  he  will  use  parting  sand  for 
facing,  and  will  complacently  deliver  castings  with 
the  sand  fused  into  the  outer  surface  ;  he  can  make 
cores  which  hot  iron  will  melt,  and  the  hub  hole  in  one 
of  his  pulleys  will  be  a  vitreous  cavity,  which  no  ma- 
chinist, city  born,  might  ever  hope  to  bore  out ;  he 
will  leave  cores  out  where  needed,  and  put  cores  in 
original  places  ;  he  will  put  anchors  just  where  they 
ought  not  to  be,  and  he  will  fix  core  rods  and  spiders 
so  that  they  will  get  welded  to  the  casting  ;  he  don't 
seem  to  care  if  a  casting  runs  a  pound  or  ten  pounds 
short,  and  if  it  is  so  bad  a  case  that  he  can't  get  it  off 
his  hands,  he  will  splice  it  with  hot  iron  the  next  heat, 
instead  of  making  a  new  one  ;  he  will  lose  one  piece 
out  of  twenty,  and  when  he  gets  his  ugly  castings 
done,  he  won't  clean  them  up. 

*  *  *  *  When  I  was  in  Cincinnati,  I  was  told  of 
an  old  shop,  and  a  big  one,  in  that  city,  which  followed 
the  plan,  when  they  made  a  new  pattern,  of  making 
one  casting,  just  to  see  if  the  pattern  was  right.  And 
a  Cincinnati  pattern  maker  told  me  that  an  inventor 
came  to  him  once  and  wanted  a  pattern  made.  He 
asked  fora  drawing  ;  the  inventor  said  he  didn't  have 
any.  He  asked  him  to  make  one,  and  the  inventor 
said  he  didn't  have  the  least  idea  how  to  make  a  draw- 
ing ;  he  asked  him  to  explain  what  kind  of  a  pattern 
he  wanted,  but  the  inventor  didn't  know  how  to  ex- 
plain anything  ;  he  told  him  to  make  a  model,  but  the 
inventor  was  no  mechanic,  and  couldn't.  Then  he 
told  him  he  could  do  nothing  for  him,  and  the  invent- 
or went  away  and  came  back  next  day  with  a  piece  of 
an  apple  whittled  into  the  shape  he  wanted  his  pattern 
made. 


172  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

JOURNALS   AND     BEARINGS. — THE     YOUNGER   SACKETT     IN 

WYCOFF'S  SHOP. 

*  *     *     *     i  aimost  come  to  the  conclusion,  some- 
times, that  a  good  journal  running  in  a  good  bearing, 
both  of  ample  area,  good  material,  and  proper  condi- 
tion, will  run  forever  without  wearing  out.    And  some- 
times I  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  will  wear  out. 
Any  conclusions  which  I  may  happen  to  come  to  will 
have  no  effect  on  the  general  durability  of  journals, 
but  when  I  consider  that  almost  everything  a  machinist 
makes  turns  around,  I  think  that  it  don't  do  any  harm 
to  talk  about  journals.     If  a  truth  is  told,  it's  all  right, 
and  if  an  untruth  is  told,  it's  all  right,  too,  if  the  un- 
truth is  big  enough,  because  thought  will  be  directed, 
and  a  truth  will  develop  after  all. 

*  *     *     *    What  is  an  ample  area  for  a  journal  ? 
What  rule  should   govern  the  sizes  ?     Probably  half 
my  readers  would  answer  :  "  The  smaller  the  better." 
"The  smaller  the  bearing,  the  less  the  friction,"  etc. 
A  person  posted  in  the  general  laws  of  friction  will 
simply  tell  these  men  that  their  belief    is  false,  and 
will  often  propound  the  simple  laws  of  friction,  and 
say   that   any  experience   leading  to   any  conclusion 
adverse  to  these  laws  is  a  false  experience,  based  on 
false    observation.      This    is    about   all   the   average 
practical  man  can  ever  get  out  of  the  average  theoret- 
ical man. 

Such  things  as  this  lead  the  practical  man  to  have 
little  faith  in  the  theoretical  man.  He  knows  very 
well,  that  if  he  prick  punches  the  centers  in  the  end  of 
a  shaft,  he  can  turn  it  very  easily  with  his  fingers 
when  the  shaft  is  put  in  the  lathe.  If  he  prick  punches 
deeper,  the  shaft  turns  harder.  If  he  drills  and  coun- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS.  173 

tersinks  deeply,  the  shaft  turns  very  hard.  If  he  rests 
it  in  full-sized  bearings,  maybe  he  can't  turn  it  at  all. 
He  knows  that  an  eccentric  may  turn  very  easily  on  a 
shaft  before  it  is  keyed,  but  that  the  strap  moves  hard 
on  the  eccentric. 

He  often  spins  a  twelve-inch  pulley  around  on  an 
inch-and-a-half  shaft,  but  when  he  gets  a  twelve-inch 
pulley,  fitting  no  tighter,  on  a  six-inch  engine  shaft,  it 
won't  spin  worth  a  cent.  These  things  stick  in  the 
practical  man's  craw,  and  the  assertion  that  a  large 
journal  has  no  more  friction  than  a  smaller  one,  won't 
go  down  with  him.  He  is  certainly  right,  and  so  is 
the  theorist  who  denies  it  without  meaning  to. 

*  *     *     *     The  "  contaction  "  of  a  bearing  acts  pre- 
cisely like,  and  is,  in  fact,  a  friction  brake  applied  to 
the  surface  of  the  journal. 

The  radius  of  the  journal  becomes  the  lever  on  which 
a  resistance  acts.  The  greater  the  diameter,  the  greater 
the  leverage.  If  power  be  applied  at  a  lever,  the  long- 
er the  lever  the  greater  will  be  the  resistance  which 
can  be  overcome,  and  if  friction  be  applied  at  a  lever, 
the  longer  this  lever  the  greater  the  power  required  to 
overcome  the  friction.  The  resistance  of  a  journal  is 
in  direct  proportion  to  the  diameter  of  the  journal. 
A  six-inch  journal  will  resist  motion  just  twice  as  much 
as  a  three-inch  journal.  Journals  should  be  no  larger 
in  diameter  than  strength  demands,  if  low  frictional 
resistance  is  sought  for.  The  strains  on  a  shaft,  and 
the  strength  of  the  material,  with  proper  allowance  for 
safety,  give  us  the  least  diameter  of  a  journal. 

*  *     *     *     When  the  theorist,  whom  the  practical 
man  don't  seem  to  like,  says  that  the  size  of  a  bearing 
don't  increase  the  friction,  he  is  talking  in  a  general 
way  of  the  extent  of  plain  surfaces,  and  is  correct,  but 
he  will  generally  mislead  the  practical  man,  and  there- 
by lose  his  respect.     Friction  does  not  increase  with 


174 

the  extent  of  surface,  but  an  alteration  of  leverage  is 
another  thing. 

The  practical  man  thinks  he  is  entirely  right  when 
he  is  not.  He  thinks  a  long  journal  offers  more  resist- 
ance than  a  short  one,  when  it  does  not.  He  thinks  a 
board  will  slide  easier  on  its  edge  than  on  its  flat  side, 
when  it  will  not.  Some  one  has  illustrated  this  by  a 
brick.  It  takes  the  same  amount  of  power  to  slide  a 
brick  on  the  floor,  whether  you  lay  the  brick  on  its 
side,  or  its  edge,  or  on  its  end.  It  is  simply  a  question 
of  weight  and  power  required  per  pound  of  weight. 
Lay  a  second  brick  on  top  of  the  first  and  the  friction 
is  doubled,  because  the  weight  is  doubled.  The  fric- 
tion would  be  precisely  the  same  if  both  bricks  were 
laid  side  by  side  on  the  floor  and  moved  at  once,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  in  the  latter  case  the  extent 
of  surface  is  doubled.  The  extent  of  surface  or  the 
length  of  journal  has  no  effect  on  friction.  If  there 
are  ten  bearings  on  a  line  shaft  there  is  a  certain  fric- 
tion. Put  ten  more  bearings  on  the  same  shaft  and 
the  friction  is  not  increased.  There  will  be  just  half 
as  much  on  each  journal  as  there  was  before,  and  just 
as  much  taken  altogether.  Increasing  the  number  of 
bearings  reduces  the  friction  on  each.  If  there  is  a 
weight  of  a  ton  on  a  bearing  a  foot  long,  there  will  be 
the  same  weight  on  the  bearing,  if  lengthened  to  two 
feet,  but  the  pressure  will  be  reduced  in  the  long  bear- 
ing to  half  a  ton  per  foot  in  length. 

*  *  *  *  It  won't  do  to  have  too  much  pressure 
per  square  inch  on  a  bearing. 

Take  the  brick  case  again.  I  think  a  brick  is  four- 
by-eight,  or  thirty-two  inches  area.  For  an  even  num- 
ber, say  that  it  weighs  thirty-two  ounces,  or  one  ounce 
per  inch  of  area.  This  brick  slides  on  the  floor  easily, 
and  don't  wear  out  the  floor  or  the  brick  much.  But 
pile  fifteen  bricks  on  top,  and  the  pressure  becomes 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORD AL*S  LETTERS.      175 

one  pound  per  inch.  The  thing  works  hard,  and,  fur- 
thermore, it  wears  out  the  lower  brick  and  the  floor. 
If  we  substitute  a  brick  eight  inches  wide  for  the  bot- 
tom one,  we  double  the  wearing  surface  and  reduce 
the  pressure  to  half  a  pound  per  inch.  We  can  keep 
enlarging  the  lower  brick  until  we  get  the  pressure 
down  to  an  ounce  per  inch,  just  where  it  was  with  the 
light  load,  and  we  noticed  that  the  apparatus  didn't 
seem  to  wear  out  any  at  that  pressure.  But  it  takes 
sixteen  times  as  much  power  to  move  the  sixteen 
bricks  as  it  did  one  brick,  because  there  is  sixteen 
times  the  weight. 

Increasing  the  size  of  the  lower  brick  is  increasing 
the  area  of  our  bearing.  This  will  save  wear,  but  it 
won't  save  power.  We  must  try  another  plan.  We 
put  buckshot  under  the  lower  brick,  and,  lo  and  be- 
hold, it  don't  take  any  more  power  to  move  the  sixteen 
bricks  than  it  did  to  move  the  single  brick  before.  We 
have  converted  sliding  friction  into  rolling  friction. 
We  keep  the  thing  going,  and  after  awhile  it  begins 
to  work  hard.  We  investigate,  and  find  that  the  buck- 
shot have  become  flattened  somewhat.  Our  rolling 
friction  is  gone.  We  put  in  new  buckshot,  and  con- 
tinue to  do  so  as  fast  as  they  give  out. 

*  *  *  *  After  this  buckshot  operation  goes  on 
some  time,  we  would  find  out  something.  We  would 
find  that  if  we  move  the  brick  fast  enough,  the  buck- 
shot never  flatten.  They  revolve  with  immense  velo- 
city, and  centrifugal  force  keeps  them  round. 

Then  we  would  remember  that  liquids  are  composed 
of  minute  globules,  just  like  buckshot,  and  we  would 
find  that  some  liquids  were  composed  of  fine,  strong, 
large,  durable  globules,  while  others  were  weak  and 
flimsy. 

This  would  soon  lead  us  into  squirting  liquid  under 
the  brick  instead  of  replacing  buckshot,  and  we  find 


176  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

that  our  old  buckshot  was  simply  a  lubricant  after  all. 

*  *  *  *  The  liquid  we  use  may  be  oil,  and  we 
can  learn  much  by  watching  it  closely.  We  find  that 
it  wears  out  just  like  the  buckshot ;  that  it  gets  flat- 
tened and  useless,  and  that  if  we  run  it  fast  its  globules 
hold  their  shape  well  ;  and  if  we  stop,  they  flatten 
right  down,  and  let  the  brick  touch  the  floor.  We  find 
that  if  the  brick  touches  the  floor  while  in  motion,  heat 
is  developed,  and  when  our  globules  get  hot,  they  seem 
to  melt  and  run  together  and  give  down  entirely,  and 
let  the  brick  right  down  on  the  floor.  Now,  when  we 
first  found  out  how  very  easily  the  load  moved,  with 
the  buckshot,  we  naturally  piled  on  a  ton  of  bricks  and 
took  the  full  benefit  of  the  lubrication,  and  now  we 
find  that  when  this  very  heavy  load  comes  down  and 
bears  right  on  the  floor,  we  can't  move  it  at  all. 

It  gouges  into  the  floor,  or  the  bearing  gets  to  cutting. 
We  did  find  a  way  to  prevent  wearing,  and  we  did 
find  a  way  to  avoid  friction,  but  we  find  that  by  some 
unskillful  proportioning  of  things  we  are  apt  to  undo 
all  the  good  which  is  done. 

We  investigate  and  experiment,  and  finally  deter- 
mine on  an  oil  which  has  a  good  firm  solid  globule, 
which  is  least  affected  by  heat,  and  least  liable  to  wear 
out  or  get  smashed.  Next  we  find  a  pressure  per 
square  inch,  which,  if  we  look  to  a  proper  supply  of 
fresh  oil,  will  not  smash  the  oil  or  force  it  out  from 
under  the  brick.  Next  we  try  and  find  something  bet- 
ter than  brick  and  wood  to  run  together. 

We  find  that  two  different  materials  will  run  nicer 
than  a  single  material,  and,  maybe,  wind  up  by  putting 
a  fancy  brass  arrangement  under  the  bottom  brick  and 
fixing  a  plain,  hard  steel  plate  for  it  to  slide  on.  Then 
we  are  careful  not  to  run  the  thing  so  fast  as  to  develop 
so  much  heat  that  it  affects  the  oil  before  it  can  pass 
off  into  the  atmosphere. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S     LETTERS.  177 

Now  we  find  that  we  have  a  nice  cool  bearing  which 
wastes  but  little  power  in  friction.  But  some  day  we 
will  forget  the  oil,  and  the  brass  will  touch  the  steel, 
and  great  heat  will  result,  and  what  little  oil  there  is 
will  become  useless,  and  the  thing  will  work  hard  and 
begin  to  cut,  and  finally  stick  and  stop.  Then  we  will 
tear  it  down  and  find  our  fancy  brass  arrangement 
ruined,  and  some  brass  stuff  brazed  to  the  steel  plate. 
As  the  brass  concern  is  ruined,  we  make  a  new  one. 

*  *  *  *  After  this  thing  happens  two  or  three 
times  a  bright  idea  will  strike  us.  We  will  see  that 
we  have  made  half  a  dozen  fancy  and  expensive  brass 
devices,  while  the  simple  and  cheaply  made  flat  plate 
has  only  been  smoothed  off  once  in  a  while. 

We  turn  things  around  and  make  the  fancy  thing  of 
hard  steel  and  make  the  simple  plate  of  brass. 

Then  we  say:  Wear  out  if  you  want  to,  you  ain't 
much  trouble  to  make  new  anyhow.  We  remember 
this  -experience,  however,  and  ever  afterwards  when  we 
scheme  out  journal  work  we  are  guided  by  this  golden 
rule  :  "  Always  make  the  cheaper  surface  of  the  softer 
metal."  We  follow  this  rule  in  constructing  crank 
pins  and  their  bearings,  main  axles  and  their  bearings, 
car  axles  and  boxes,  and  every  thing  else. 

We  get  the  softer  metal  to  wear  as  well  as  possible, 
but  are  always  careful  that  it  shall  not  be  so  good  a 
stuff  to  wear  as  the  other  metal.  We  can  jack  up  a 
freight  car  and  put  a  new  brass  in  for  very  little  money. 
A  brass  made  out  of  hard  steel  would  last  ten  times  as 
long,  but  the  wear  would  fall  on  the  axle  where  we 
don't  want  it. 

Before  you  get  through  with  this  letter,  you,  like 
myself,  will  conclude  that  there  are  many  things  Chor- 
dal  don't  know. 

I  know  for  certain  that  all  journals  should  be  as 
small  in  diameter  as  proper  strength  will  permit  ;  that 


178  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

the  diameter  of  a  journal  has  no  earthly  connection 
with  its  length;  that  plenty  of  bearing  area  will  insure 
durability  ;  that  a  certain  pressure  per  square  inch  of 
bearing  area  will  allow  durability  ;  that  a  certain 
greater  pressure  will  insure  immediate  destruction  ; 
and  that  somewhere  between  these  certain  wide  limits 
there  is  a  pressure  which  is  practically  reasonable. 

But  I  don't  know  what  that  pressure  is,  and  I  can- 
not approximate  it. 

*  *     *     *     I  cau  gjve  yOU  some  few  every-day  fig- 
ures, and  let  you  do  your  own  averaging.     A  freight 
car  on  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  running  out  of  this 
city,  gives,  when  loaded,  a  pressure  of  two  hundred 
pounds  per  square  inch  on  the  effective  bearing  of  the 
axles. 

A  pillow-block  on  a  stationary  engine  up  town  gives 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds. 

The  driving  axles  of  a  certain  Mogul  locomotive 
bear  two  hundred  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  the 
crank  pin  and  cross-head  pin  of  this  same  engine 
bear  twelve  hundred  pounds  per  square  inch. 

My  neighbors  next  door  build  a  little  eight-horse 
threshing  engine,  having  a  crank-pin  push  of  sixteen 
hundred  pounds  per  square  inch  of  bearing  surface. 

There's  precious  little  satisfaction  in  such  figures  as 
these. 

*  *     *     *     jf  tne  crank-pin  area  of  a  locomotive 
was  increased  till  the  pressure  got  down  to  two  hun- 
dred pounds  per  inch  of  bearing,  an   increase  in  the 
width  of  the  right  of  way  would  have  to  be  secured  to 
let  them  pass,  and  the  telegraph  poles  would  have  to 
be  moved  ;  and  if  the  pressure  on  the  driving  axles 
was  increased  to  sixteen  hundred  pounds,  I  don't  be- 
lieve the  engine  would  run  a  week. 

Now,  what's  the  reason  a  driving  axle  or  car  axle 
won't  stand  the  pressure  that  a  crank  pin  will  ?  They 


EXTRACTS    FROM     CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  179 

are  both  lubricated  with  the  same  stuff — to-wit:  mis- 
cellaneous oils  mixed  with  grit  sucked  up  from  the 
road  bed. 

Let  us  return  to  our  experimental  brick 
pile  for  further  information.  Assume  our  sliding  sur- 
face at  the  bottom  of  the  pile  to  be  so  small  as  to  give 
some  trouble.  We  can  work  it  right  along,  but  it 
needs  care.  Heavy,  continuous  work  causes  it  to  heat, 
bind,  and  stick.  If  our  sliding  motion,  instead  of  be- 
ing steady  and  continuous,  is  a  bouncing,  jerky  one, 
we  can  get  along  better.  We  investigate  and  find  that 
though  we  dose  the  thing  with  lots  of  oil,  only  a  tri- 
fling quantity  stays  to  do  business.  This  quantity  is 
juct  sufficient  to  form  a  film  of  globules  between  the 
surfaces,  just  like  a  single  layer  of  our  buckshot. 

If  the  pressure  is  continuous,  the  surplus  oil,  forced 
out,  can't  get  in  again,  and  when  the  little  that  was  in 
gets  smashed  up  and  useless,  the  whole  thing  gets  dry 
and  heated  and  cuts. 

There's  plenty  of  the  surplus  oil  lying  around  anx- 
ious to  do  some  good,  but  the  pressure  don't  let  up 
long  enough  for  this  oil  to  get  in  between  the  surfaces. 
If  our  whole  load  is  lifted  every  second  or  two,  fresh 
oil  is  sucked  in  bctv/ecn  the  surfaces,  and  every  thing 
works  better.  There's  a  sort  of  a  slap  to  a  crank-pin 
bearing,  and  this  very  thing  is  to  the  benefit  of  the 
bearing.  The  crank  pin  cf  a  passenger  engine  is 
practically  worn  on  one  side  only.  But  this  same 
side  is  constantly  shifting  from  one  side  of  the  brass 
to  the  other ;  not  with  a  rubbing  motion  only,  but  with 
a  total  let  up  and  shifting  of  the  pressure  on  the 
brasses.  A  car  axle  won't  do  this.  It's  just  a  solid 
demnition  grind,  on  a  shifting  surface,  it  is  true,  but 
with  no  let  up  on  the  pressure. 

*  *  *  * .  There  is  still  more  in  the  brick  pile. 
We  can  see  how  theory,  as -some  folks  call  it,  and  prac- 


l8o  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S     LETTERS. 

tice  should  go  together.  Let  us  suppose  that  you  were 
the  party  who  did  the  experimenting  with  the  bearing 
under  the  pile  of  bricks  ;  that  you  spent  six  months' 
time,  five  hundred  dollars  in  money,  and  used  up  lots 
of  good  judgment  and  patience  ;  that  all  this  happened 
one  hundred  years  ago ;  and  that  you  wrote  down  in 
your  little  book:  "A  hard  steel  plate,  sliding  on  a 
hard  brass  plate,  lubricated  with  good  lard  oil,  works 
well  under  a  load  of  brick  giving  a  pressure  of  five 
hundred  pounds  per  square  inch  of  bearing  area,  if 
the  surfaces  are  in  good  shape."  Let  your  name  be 
Morin,  and  assume  that  in  course  of  years  your  little 
book  gets  printed  and  accepted  as  an  authority  on 
such  subjects. 

Now  then,  please  to  imagine  Mr.  Wycoff  getting 
up  a  machine  having  a  horizontal  sliding  surface 
operating  under  great  weight.  Young  Tom  Sackett, 
who  calls  himself  an  engineer,  watches  Wycoff  on 
this  job.  Wycoff  s  heavy  load  is,  by  a  coincidence,  a 
pile  of  bricks,  and  his  good  judgment  tells  him  that  a 
brick  surface  won't  wear  worth  a  cent,  so  he  proposes 
to  put  brass  and  iron  surfaces  where  the  wear  comes. 
He  makes  the  surfaces  the  size  of  something  else  at 
the  bottom  of  the  pile.  He  don't  "theorize  "  over  the 
matter,  for  he  is  a  practical  man,  you  know. 

Tom  asks  Wycoff  how  big  these  surfaces  are,  and 
W.  says:  "  They  look  all  right."  Tom  says  if  he  was 
building  that  thing,  he  would  figure  on  it  a  while  and 
try  and  get  it  right  the  first  time.  Wycoff  says:  "  I 
don't  believe  any  in  your  theories.  It  is  simply  stuff 
out  of  books.  I  have  been  thirty  years  at  this  busi- 
ness, and  I  guess  I  ought  to  know  how  big  a  bear- 
ing to  put  under  a  pile  of  bricks."  This  thirty-year 
business  is  the  old  millwright's  gag  and  Tom  hears  it 
often.  He  retorts  by  saying:  "  I  know  men  who 
have  been  at  the  business  sixty  years,  and  they  don't 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.       l8l 

know  half  as  much  as  you  do,  Mr.  Wycoff.  I  may 
have  learned  something  yesterday  that  you  never 
dreamed  of.  Your  thirty  years'  experience  printed 
in  a  book  and  proven  by  others  might  save  many  a 
man  a  peck  of  trouble  and  anxiety  some  fine  day." 
This  whole  discussion  goes  on  pleasantly,  and  Tom 
has  touched  Wycoff  in  a  tender  spot — the  thirty- 
year  place.  He  begins  to  wonder  if,  after  all,  this 
thing  he  has  misnamed  "theory  "  is  simply  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  successful  experience  of  other  men. 

Tom  follows  him  up  and  says:  "  Now,  Mr.  Wycoff, 
you  may  have  those  plates  plenty  big  enough,  but 
it's  all  luck  if  you  have.  Other  men  have  done 
just  such  jobs,  and  they  have  worked  with  them  till 
they  were  right,  and  there  are  ways  of  getting  at 
the  facts.  You  make  your  plates,  and  I  will  hunt 
up  the  documents  and  figure  on  the  thing." 

*  *     *     *     Enter  Tom  on  Wycoff's    premises   the 
next  day  with  a  scrap  of  paper.     He  says  to  Wycoff  : 
"  I    find  by    consulting    standard    authorities,  that   a 
hundred    years  ago  a  Frenchman  named    Morin,  ex- 
perimented with  sliding  piles  of    brick,  at  great  cost 
of  time  and  money,  and  he  gives  the  results  of  his  la- 
bors.    I  have  figured  on  your  pile  of  brick,  and  find 
that,  according  to  Morin,  you  will  have  to  make  your 
plates  twelve  times  as  large  as  you  intend,  or  you  will 
have  lots  of  trouble  and  a  total  failure." 

Wycoff  winces  some  and  finally  gets  around  the 
matter  by  telling  Tom  that  a  person  so  much  inter- 
ested in  a  thing  had  better  undertake  the  superintend- 
ence of  the  job.  It's  a  bargain  and  Tom  takes  hold. 

*  *     *     *     The  plates  are  done  under  Tom's  direc- 
tions, and  after  the  machine  starts  up  he  watches  it. 
It  runs  ten  minutes,  gets  hot  and  stops.     Tom  wonders 
and  figures  the  thing  all  over,  and  says  to  himself: 
"  If  these   big  plates  heat,  what  in  the  world  would 


182  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

Wycoff's  little  plates  have  done?"  Wycoff  says:  "I 
don't  know  anything  about  the  Frenchman,  Morin,  and 
I  don't  know  what  '  coefficient '  means,  but  I  see  what's 
the  matter.  These  plates  are  so  big,  and  make  so  much 
friction,  that  the  thing  can't  work." 

In  sheer  exasperation  Tom  ejaculates  the  whole  cf 
Morin's  laws  of  friction  into  Wycoff's  ear  and  explains 
them,  and  makes  Wycoff  understand.  Then  Wycoff 
wants  to  know  what  is  the  matter. 

They  set  a  Johnny  to  taking  the  machine  down,  and 
he  soon  comes  around  and  says  :  "  See  'ere,  lad,  there's 
'igh  spots  hon  this  'ere  plate,  shall  hi  take  em  down  a 
bit?" 

Tom  looks  at  the  plates.  All  of  the  parts  which 
really  touched  and  made  bearing  would  not  cover  a 
deuce  of  spades.  He  calls  Wycoff  and  shows  him;  and 
then  triumphantly  adds  :  ''and  Morin  says  the  surfaces 
must  be  in  good  shape."  And  then  the  practical 
Wycoff  turns  on  this  young  student  and  says  with  ma- 
licious glee  :  "When  you  have  worked  thirty  years  at 
the  machine  trade,  may  be  you  will  know  when  two 
sliding  plates  are  in  good  shape.  I  left  this  thing  to 
you,  and  here  are  the  plates. 

They  consider  this  matter  a  "  saw  off,"  and  deter- 
mine that  theory  and  practice,  if  kept  from  fighting, 
will,  when  united,  do  anything  within  the  power  of 
mortal  man,  and  they  make  a  strong  associate  point 
by  acknowledging  their  individual  weakness. 

*  *  *  #  j  never  expected  to  see  the  names  of 
Wycoff  and  Sackett  associated  so  closely.  Wycoff  and 
the  elder  Sackett  have  always  been  friends.  They 
were  cubs  and  jours  and  tramps  together,  and  now 
that  they  are  in  some  degree  competitors,  they  are 
neither  cordial  nor  at  loggerheads. 

But  young  Tom  Sackett  considers  himself  a  bright 
and  shining  light,  and,  being  a  gentleman  of  elegant 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS.  l8v, 

leisure  who  likes  to  work,  he  can  generally  be  found 
in  the  darkest  and  most  benighted  places.  He  natur- 
ally gravitates  towards  the  premises  of  Wycoff.  Tom 
has  good  sense  and  is  of  benefit  tc  all  concerned. 

*  *  *  *  j  ought,  perhaps,  to  tell  you  that  the 
elder  Sackett  is  not  what  Wycoff  would  call  a  "  theor- 
ist." He  is  simply  a  skilled  mechanic  with  tip-top  busi- 
ness sense.  There  is  no  science  in  him,  but  he  knows 
the  value  of  science.  He  bases  his  whole  practice,  so 
far  as  originality  is  concerned,  on  the  accuracy  of 
mathematics,  and  he  don't  know  a  logarithm  from  a 
twinge  of  the  lumbago.  Sackett  keeps  men  skilled 
in  these  arts  and  he  uses  them.  He  never  puts  his 
foot  down  without  knowing  before  hand  what  hap- 
pened to  other  men  who  have  stepped  on  the  same 
spot.  He  is  no  genius  and  can't  contrive  anything, 
but  he  keeps  a  genius  and  works  him  hard.  If  the 
sliding-plate  job  had  been  done  in  Sackett's  shop,  its 
dimensions  would  have  been  arranged  with  reference 
to  how  big  it  ought  to  be.  Sackett  is  too  wise  to  guess 
at  a  thing  which  can  be  determined  with  some  degree 
of  certainty,  and  too  wise  to  use  figures  he  don't  under- 
stand. He  calls  himself  the  business  manager  of  his 
concern. 

*  *  *  *  Again  do  we  return  to  the  sliding 
plates.  The  plates  were  made  large  to  increase  the 
rubbing  surface,  and  the  chap  who  planed  the  plates 
sprung  them  so  badly  that  they  only  touched  in  spots. 
The  big  plates  thus  became  little  plates,  so  far  as  bear- 
ing was  concerned,  and  Torn  Sackett,  that  bright 
youth,  supposed  that  a  planed  plate  was  a  plane  plate. 

Tom  will  some  day  learn  that  if  a  bearing  don't  bear 
well,  it  isn't  much  of  a  bearing.  He  will  learn  that  a 
round  bearing  six  inches  long,  if  some  botchy  lathes- 
man  turns  it  badly,  is  often  only  a  two-inch  bearing. 

He  will  learn  that  a  six  inch  belt  may  do  a  certain 


184  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

work,  if  it  contacts  nicely  with  a  pulley,  but  that  if 
some  botchy  lathesman  scrapes  a  pulley  up  with  the 
end  of  a  file  and  leaves  rings  on  it,  his  six  inch  belt 
may  become  a  three  inch  belt. 

*  *     *     *     A  round  journal  touches  in  its  box,  on 
about  one-third  of  its  circumference,  the  balance  being 
free.     One  third  of  the  circumference  is  pretty  near  the 
diameter,  and  it  is  safe,  when  finding  the  rubbing  area 
of  a  journal,  to  multiply  the  diameter  by  the  length, 
which  gives  the  practical  bearing  surface. 

*  *     *     *     If  a  journal  is  not  round,  the  first  thing 
it  does  is  to  commence   the  work  of   grinding   itself 
round.     In  course  of  time  the  journal  will  get  round, 
but  it  has  also  got  smaller  and  looser,  and  the  metal 
ground  off  stays  around  to  do  mischief  and  do  cutting. 
A  journal  made  perfectly  round  in  the  lathe  don't  have 
to  go  through   this    grinding   operation,   therefore   a 
round  journal  will  run  nice  from  the  start;  it  don't  get 
loose,  and  it  don't  lubricate  itself  with  iron  filings. 

*  *     *     *     This   applies   to   flat   rubbing  surfaces 
also.     If  you  don't  take  the  lumps  off,  it  will  try  to  do 
so  itself,-  and,  in  cloing  so,  will  groove  badly  and  sprinkle 
itself  with  iron  dust.     The  bearing  will  be  in  very  bad 
shape  just  at  the  time  it  would  be  in  very  nice  shape 
if  the  work  was  well  done. 

*  *     *     *     A   badly   turned   journal,   while    it    is 
rounding  itself  up,  will  cut  rings  in  itself,  the  same  as 
sliding  surfaces  cut  grooves  while  wearing  the  lumps 
down.      Badly  turned  journals  and  badly  fitted  flat 
surfaces  never  doctor  themselves. 

*  *     *  •  *     If  two   plates  which  rub  together  are 
found  to  be  nice  and  flat,  and  bear  practically  all  over, 
they  will  not  work  well,  if  the  file  marks  or  any  other 
marks  run  in  the  direction  of  the  motion.     Such  marks 
are,  in  fact,  little  grooves  which  interfere  with  the  side 
flow  of  oil,  and  particles  of  cuttings  get  into  these 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  185 

grooves  and  act  like  "pins  "in  a  file.  They  scratch. 
Surfaces  having  finish  marks  in  the  direction  of  motion 
are  cut  already  when  new.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
journals  when  round.  The  finish  should  not  leave  any 
kind  of  marks  around  a  journal. 

*  *     *     *     Never  draw-file  a  piston   rod  or  pump 
plunger.     Finish  them  in  the  lathe  with  well-defined 
encircling  finish,  and  three  days  wear  will  give  a  dead 
polish  which  will  stay.     Never  draw-file  engine  guides 
or  such  things.     Bring  them  to  a  true  surface  by  any 
process  and  then  crass-file  them  lightly,  even  with  em- 
ery paper,  so  as  to  show  that  there  are  no  marks  run- 
ning endwise.     Such  guides  will  come  to  a  dead,  true, 
hard  polish  in  a  few  days,  and    they  will  stay,  if  the 
surfaces  are  of  proper  size.     With  wrought  iron,  steel, 
or  cold-rolled  slides  this  is  particularly  important,  as 
there  is  a  vicious  end  grain   anyhow,  and  cross-finish 
will  neutralize  it. 

*  *   •  *     *     Scraped  surfaces,  aside  from  their  being 
presumably  flat,  wear  nicely  as  the  endwise  scratches 
are  bound  to  be  lacking. 

*  *     *    '*     A  steam  cylinder  finished  endwise  would 
make   trouble   from   the  word  go.      The   tool  marks 
around   a   cylinder   are   beneficial,  as   indicating   the 
absence  of  marks  the  other  way. 

*  *     *     *     A  journal  nicely  rounded  up,  and  fin- 
ished by  lead-lapping,  has  little  or  no  marking  around 
it.     A  final  lead   lap   finish  given  endwise  insures  the 
absence  of  other   scratches,  and  the  journal    will  be 
ready  to  commence  its  life  work,  not  its  death  work. 

*  *     *     *     jf  bacj   workmanship  fails  to  take  the 
lumps  off  bearings,  a  substitute  may  be  sought  in  a 
material  which  fills  the  hollows  up  to  the  level  of  the 
lumps.     Metalline  and  sundry  plumbago  lubricants  do 
this.     The  fine  particles  of  this  stuff  flush  up  the  sur- 
faces and  give  perfect  contact  of  self-lubricating  sur- 


i86 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 


faces.  A  bearing  so  outrageously  fitted,  that  no  amount 
of  oil  will  keep  it  cool,  will  often  behave  itsel-f,  if  fitted 
with  metalline,  and  no  oil  applied.  Surfaces  must  be 
large  enough  for  the  work,  but  metalline  corrects,  in 
some  degree,  bad  workmanship,  and  it  carries  its  buck- 
shot with  it. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  187 


CHAPTER     XXII. 

MR.  HUBER'S  NEW  BUTTON  SET. — POOR  DAN  TAKES  THE 

FLOOR. 

*  *  *  *  jy[r  Huber  is  one  of  those  lucky  men 
who  own  boiler  shops.  He  works  about  twenty  or 
twenty-five  boiler  makers. 

Mr.  Huber  got  some  button  sets  made,  and  one  day 
last  week  went  into  the  said  boiler  shop  to  introduce 
the  aforesaid  button  sets.  When  Mr.  Huber  went  into 
the  boiler  shop  to  introduce  the  button  sets,  the  boiler 
makers  all  went  out  of  the  boiler  shop  on  a  strike 
against  the  introduction  of  the  button  sets.  I  wish 
these  men  would  put  their  cause  of  action  into  writing. 
It  might  be  shown  that  the  button  set  was  a  bad  tool 
calculated  to  injure  the  reputation  of  a  boiler  maker 
who  used  it.  In  such  case  the  boiler  makers  ought  to 
hear  more  about  it.  Probably  the  button  set  is  a  really 
bad  tool,  and  that  a  conscientious  boiler  maker  would 
scorn  to  use  one  for  the  same  reason  that  he  would 
any  other  bad  tool.  If  Mr.  Huber  should  take  a  drift 
pin  into  his  boiler  shop  and  say:  "  Here  now,  you  boys, 
when  holes  don't  match  by  the  width  of  a  county,  you 
just  drive  this  here  pin  in  and  make  them  match."  I 
suppose,  of  course,  the  men  would  get  on  a  strike  at 
once — only  they  wouldn't. 

The  fact  is,  that  the  introduction  of  a  bad  tool  into 
a  boiler  shop  is  not  a  certain  method  of  starting  a 
strike.  Maybe  the  button  set  is  a  good  tool.  I  can 
imagine  some  idiotic  workman  striking  because  some 
new  tool  worked  better  than  the  tools  he  was  used  to. 
In  my  own  State,  and  in  several  other  States,  a  certain 
class  of  men  are  kicking  against  oleomargarine,  or 
artificial  butter.  They  want  the  business  stopped  by 
legislation  ;  they  want  the  product  destroyed  and  the 


l88  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

producers  sent  to  the  penitentiary.  Not  because  the 
stuff  isn't  good,  mind  you.  If  it  was  bad,  they  wouldn't 
say  a  word.  It's  entirely  too  good,  and  that's  what's 
the  matter  ;  and  that's  why  they  want  legislatures  to 
enact  laws  which  will  hang  any  man  who  attempts  to 
extract  butter  from  the  other  end  of  the  cow. 

*  *     *     *     Maybe  Mr.  Huber's  boiler  makers  think 
the  button  set  is  too  quick  a  tool,  and  will  allow  Mr. 
Huber  to  reduce  his  price  list  ten  per  cent.    This  would 
give  Mr.  Huber  lots  of  business,  and  he  would  have  to 
enlarge   his   boiler  shop  and  get  more   boiler  makers. 
This  is  dreadful  to  think  about  ! 

*  *     *     *    i  knovv  two  chaps   who  tied   up  about 
four  dollars'  worth  of  boiler  tools  in  some  old  overalls, 
and   went   out  into   a  distant  country  and   started   a 
boiler  shop.    They  did  repair  work.    They  put  on  cold 
patches,  put   on   new  sheets,  put  in   new  rivets,  put   in 
new  flues  and  tubes,  put  in  new  fire  boxes,  etc.     They 
did  their  bending  over  wooden   logs,  and  kept  three 
boiler  makers  at  work  constantly.    They  got  big  prices 
and  saved  some  money. 

*  *     *     *     After  building  two  or  three  new  boilers 
in  this  crude  way,  they  took  it  into  their  heads  that 
they  would  get  some  kind  of  a  rig  to  punch  holes  for 
rivets.     They   had  been   drilling   by  ratchet  entirely. 
The  man  who  had   been  "running  "the   ratchet  drill 
saw  trouble  ahead,  no  work,  a  starving  family,  etc. 

He  was  quieted,  just  on  the  eve  of  a  "strike,"  by 
assurances  that  his  job  was  steady,  and  that  he  might 
run  the  new  punch  when  it  came.  Still,  he  felt  uneasy, 
for  he  foresaw  that  the  punch  would  do  a  day's  ratchet- 
ing in  half  an  hour.  Where  he  was  to  get  his  other  nine 
and  a  half  hours'  work  was  a  mystery.  Things  looked 
still  blacker  when  he  remembered  that  there  was  not 
work  enough  to  even  keep  the  ratchet  drill  going. 

*  *     *     *     This  artist  of  the  ratchet  knew  lots  of 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  189 

things,  but  one  thing  he  didn't  know.  He  did't  know 
how  hard  the  bosses  had  to  work  to  get  a  job  at  the 
prices  they  were  compelled  to  ask,  and  he  didn't  know 
how  little  margin  of  profit  there  was  in  it  after  the  job 
was  gotten.  He  didn't  know  that  his  own  low  wages, 
as  operator  of  the  ratchet  drill,  made  the  cost  of  boil- 
ers so  high  that  six  contemplated  saw  mills  were  never 
built — just  on  that  account.  He  got  a  dollar  a  day, 
and  saw  suffering  and  idleness  ahead.  In  the  bitter- 
ness of  his  woe  he  would  have  smashed  all  the  punch- 
ing machines  in  existence,  if  he  could  have  done  so. 

*  *     *     *     The  new  punch  came  all  the  same,  and 
poor  Dan  was  placed  in  charge.     With  saddened  heart 
he  saw  the  vicious  tool  punch  holes  ten  hours  a  day. 
He  wondered  where  the  new  demand  for  holes  came 
from,  and  he  wondered  how  the  bosses  had  been  able 
to  raise  his  wages  half  a  dollar  a   day,  and  how  they 
managed   to  find  work  for  three  more   boilermakers 
than  they  had  before. 

*  *     *     *     Three  years'  time  saw  poor  Dan  as  boss 
of  three  punching  machines.    He  tried  to  wonder  what 
the  fifty  men   were  doing  who  might   be   ratcheting 
these  holes,  and  then    he  remembered  that  when  the 
ratchet  was  depended  on,  only  one  man  was  employed 
in  making  holes  while  now  there  were  four,  and  besides 
that   there  were  thirty  boiler  makers  at  work  in  the 
shop.     Instead  of  sheets  being  bent  over  a  log,  labor 
saving  rolls  were  used.     There  had  been  a  kick  against 
these  rolls.     A  steam  riveter  stood  in  the  middle  of 
the  shop  and  worked  steadily;  and  a^business-like  tool 
cut  half  a  dozen  tube  holes  at  once,  and  orders  for 
boilers  came  in,  and  boilers  went  out,  and  saw  mills 
were  built,  and  lumber  got  down  to  a  price,  and  wages 
got  up  to  a  figure  where  a  boiler  maker  could  live  in  a 
house  that  was  a  house.     Poor  Dan! 

*  *     *     *     One  fine  day  one  of  the  bosses  brought 


IQO  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's     LETTERS. 

into  the  shop  a  gauging  rig  for  one  of  the  punches. 
This  thing  was  some  sort  of  a  self-feeding  frame, 
which  spaced  the  holes  and  punched  them  on  big  cir- 
cles so  as  to  bring  the  rows  straight  when  the  sheet 
was  rolled  up  into  a  tapering  ring. 

*  *     *     *     This  gauge  made  trouble;  and  Mr.  Mul- 
ligan, as  spokesman  of  a  meeting  of  boiler  makers,  ex- 
plained that  the  devilish  gauge  was  well  calculated  to 
take  the   bread  out  of  boiler   makers'  mouths.      He 
went  on  to  explain   in    eloquent  terms  that  all  these 
labor-saving  traps  were  throwing  men  out  of  work  and 
leaving  their  families  suffering;  that  the  bosses  were, 
by  their  means,  enabled  to  do  the  same  work  with  less 
men,  and  could   put  that  much  more  money  in  their 
own  pockets;  that  he  had  nothing  against  the  bosses, 
but  the  working  men  must  guard  their  interests  or 
prepare  to  suffer.     Then  he  showed   by  figures,  which 
never  lie,  that  this  gauge  would  do  the  work  of  three 
men  laying  out  work  and  do  it  better;  that  the  steam 
riveter  was  doing  work  that  six  more  men  ought  to  be 
hired  to  do;  that  the  bending  rolls  were  doing  work 
that  three  more  men  ought  to  do;  and  that  the  punch- 
ing machines  were  doing  work  that  ten  men  ought  to 
be  doing.     He  said    he  liked  the  bosses,   and    didn't 
favor  destruction,  but  he  really  felt  that  if  all  these 
things  were  back  in  the  form  of  pig  iron,  there  would 
be   a   hundred  men  working  in  the  shop   instead  of 
twenty-five   or   thirty.     He  was  in  favor   of   express- 
ing to  the  bosses  the  general  good  will  of  the  men,  but 
of  insisting  on  the  new  gauge  being  abandoned.    They 
would  work  hard   and  do  their  duty,  but  it  was  not 
asking  too  much  of  the  bosses  to  ask  that  the  new 
gauge  and  similar  traps  be  kept  out  of  the  shop  in  the 
future. 

*  *     *     *     Then  poor  Dan  took  the  floor,  and,  with 
permission  of  the  chairman,  asked  Mr.  Mulligan  a  few 


EXTRACTS    FROM     CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  193 

questions.  Mr.  Mulligan  was  a  free  and  generous 
soul,  and  went  into  the  catechism  class  cheerfully. 

First  question  by  Dan. — Mr.  Mulligan,  did  you  ever 
work  in  a  boiler  shop  when  some  great  labor-saving 
device  was  put  into  use  and  kept  in  use  ?  If  so,  state 
the  circumstances. 

Answer  by  Mr.  Mulligan — I  worked  for  McLean  when 
they  got  a  flanging  machine  intended  to  revolutionize 
the  trade.  The  thing  was  a  fraud,  and  was  laid  aside 
in  a  month.  It  was  an  experiment  and  a  failure. 

Second  question  by  Dan. — That's  not  to  the  point.  I 
want  cases  where  the  devices  staid  and  did  just  what 
was  intended.  Do  you  know  of  any  such  ? 

Answer.  — Well,  when  I  was  at  Crofts'  they  got  a  big 
punching  machine,  which  punched  six  holes  at  once, 
and  did  the  work  of  about  four  common  machines.  It 
worked  well  and  is  working  yet,  for  all  I  know. 

Third  question  by  Dan. — How  many  men  were  dis- 
charged at  Crofts'  when  the  gang  punch  went  to 
work  ? 

Answer. — Discharged  !     Why,  none. 

Fourth  question. — Please  name  over  such  things  as 
you  would  consider  labor-saving  arrangements;  things 
which  you  have  seen  introduced  into  boiler  shops 
where  you  have  worked.  Give  us  a  fair  count. 

Answer. — Well,  here  goes.  In  the  matter  of  hole 
work,  I  would  mention  cold  chisels,  which  will  chip 
three  holes  without  breaking  twice,  ratchet  drills  which 
drill  more  holes  than  a  man  can  chip,  a  frame  to  hold 
the  ratchet  drill  up  while  you  use  it.  This  saves  lots 
of  work.  A  crank  drill.  This  saves.  A  power  drill. 
This  saves  lots  of  work.  A  punching  machine.  This 
saves  lots  over  a  drill.  A  gang  punch  saves  still  more. 
Getting  better  steel  for  punches  saves  lots  of  labor. 
Clean  marking  saves  labor.  The  use  of  French  chalk 
instead  of  white  chalk  saves  labor.  In  cutting  out 


194  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

work,  good  chisels  compared  with  bad  chisels  will  let 
one  man  do.  two  men's  work.  A  man  with  a  health)' 
scientific  muscle  will  do  the  work  of  two  brute  force 
men  or  two  weak  men.  Oiling  a  chisel  makes  it  cut 
faster.  A  power  shear  saves  lots  of  work.  In  hand- 
ling work,  crowbars  save  men,  and  cranes  save  still 
more.  In  riveting,  one  gang  of  two  men  will  do  much 
more  than  two  gangs  of  one  man.  This  parceling  of 
parties  reduces  the  amount  of  labor  required  to  do  a 
certain  amount  of  work.  Steam  and  hydraulic  riveting 
will  save  lots  of  work. 

Fifth  question  by  Dan. — Mr.  Mulligan,  are  you  op- 
posed to  labor-saving  tools  in  the  boiler  shop,  and 
if  so,  why  ? 

Answer  —  Yes,  I  am.  It  takes  the  bread  out  of  a 
man's  mouth,  and  as  the  iron  machine  don't  want  the 
money  it  earns,  the  boss  takes  it. 

Sixth  question  by  Dan. — In  what  shops  have  you  been 
best  paid  ;  in  shops  with  every  labor-saving  device,  or 
in  shops  where  muscle  did  everything  ? 

Answer. — Well,  I  never  got  what  I  call  good  pay, 
but  I  got  the  poorest  pay  in  the  poorest  shops. 

Seventh  question  by  Dan. — Did  you  ever  know  of  a 
boiler  maker  being  discharged,  because  a  new  man 
was  hired  who  had  a  big  muscle  and  could  do  a  big 
day's  work  ? 

Answer. — No;  never  heard  of  such  a  thing. 

Eighth  question  by  Dan. — Mr.  Mulligan,  did  you  ever 
see,  or  did  you  ever  hear  of  a  case  where  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  labor-saving  rig  of  any  kind  whatever  in  a 
boiler  shop  resulted  in  the  discharge  of  a  man  because 
the  machine  did  his  work  ? 

Answer. — Well,  I  can't  exactly  say  I  ever  did,  but  I 
have  been  around  some,  and  I  ought  to  have  seen 
some  such  case. 

Ninth  question  by  Dan. — Mr.   Mulligan,  what  has  be- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  195 

come  of  all  the  boiler  makers  who  have  been  thrown 
out  of  work  by  sharp  chisels,  by  punching  and  shear- 
ing machines,  by  bending  rolls  which  will  run  a  sheet 
right  through,  by  riveting  machines,  by  muscle  in  the 
arms  of  other  men,  &c.,  &c.? 

Answer. — Well .  I  don't  know,  I  guess  they 

work  at  something. 

Tenth  question  by  Dan. — Don't  you  guess  they  work  at 
the  boiler  maker's  trade,  and  don't  you  guess  there  are 
twenty  times  as  many  boiler  makers  working  to-day  as 
there  were  before  riveting  machines  were  invented  ? 

Answer. — I  don't  know  anything  about  the  figures, 
but  I  do  remember  when  boiler  makers  were  few  and 
far  between.  When  I  was  a  cub,  I  believe  a  year's 
work  of  all  the  boiler  makers  in  the  world  would  not 
keep  the  boiler  makers  of  to-day  busy  three  hours.  It 
beats  the  deuce  where  all  the  boilers  go.  It  seems  as 
though  everybody  wants  boilers  now,  and  they  are  so 
cheap  everybody  gets  them.  Trade  slackens  once  in 
a  while,  but  it  used  to  slacken  then  ten  times  worse. 

Dan. — Thank  you,  Mr.  Mulligan.  You're  a  square 
chap  and  a  bully  boiler  maker.  Now,  Mr.  Chairman, 
all  I've  got  to  say  is  this,  I  worked  in  this  shop  years 
ago,  and  I  drilled  with  a  ratchet  drill  every  rivet  hole, 
made  in  the  place,  and  three  men  worked  in  the  shop 
and  there  were  not  holes  enough  wanted  to  keep  me 
busy.  The  shop  now  has  steady  work  and  pays  good 
wages,  and  sells  boilers  so  the  people  can  afford  to 
buy.  You  take  the  labor-saving  tools  out  of  the  shop, 
and  every  mother's  son  of  you  will  tramp,  except  two 
men,  and  I  will  go  back  to  the  ratchet,  and  I  bet  I  can 
drill  more  holes  than  there  will  be  to  drill.  Labor- 
saving  tools  have  been  a  friend  to  me,  and  have  got 
you  your  jobs,  and  I,  for  one,  will  welcome  anything 
of  the  kind  I  see  coming  along.  I  move  that  we  tell 
the  bosses  to  get  all  the  gauge  rigs  they  can  use. 


196  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 

TURNING     SHAFTING     ON     THE     HOTCHKISS     PLAN. 

A    SIMON    PURE    MACHINE    SHOP. 

*  *     *     *     j  reaiiy  believe  that  a  machinist  who 
likes  to  see  things,  can  find  more  solid  enjoyment  in 
some  of  the  rough-and-tumble  jobbing  shops  Jocated 
in  the  woods,  than  he  can  in  some  high-toned  manufac- 
turing establishments,  gotten    up  without  regard   to 
cost.     The  workmen  turned  out  by  such  concerns  are 
invariably  of   more  value  than    those  raised  in    nice 
shops. 

*  *     *     *     A  new  man  comes  along  and  says  he 
worked  ten  years  in  Hotchkiss'  shop.    Now,  Hotchkiss 
has  the  reputation  of  selling  the  nicest  shafting  known 
to  the  market.     You  want  a  man  to  turn    shafting, 
and,  of  course,  you  ask  this  new  comer  if  he  worked 
any  on  shafting  in  Hotchkiss'  shop.    He  answers  truly 
that  he  never  did  much  else.     You  consider  yourself 
lucky,  and  set  the  man  to  work.     You  soon  find  that 
he  turns  the  worst  shafting  in  the  world,  and  gets  out 
about  twelve  feet  a  day.     You  go  for  the  gentleman, 
and  ask  him  why  he  can't  do  some  decent  work  and 
some  reasonable  quantity  of  it.    He  explains,  in  a  very 
condescending  manner,  that  if  you  want  good  work 
you  must  furnish  good  facilities.     He  explains   that, 
when  at  Hotchkiss',  he  used  a  special  lathe  with  a  won- 
derful carriage  arrangement,  carrying  numerous  tools, 
and  with  a  centering  and  straightening  attachment, 
and  a  burring  rest  for  finishing  to  size.     With  this  rig 
he  turned  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  nice  shafting  in 
ten  hours,  and  says  he  can  do  it  every  day  in  the  week 
if  you  will  bring  him  the  apparatus.    Now,  you  know 
all  about  this  kind  of  thing.    You  have  been  in  Hotch- 
kiss' shop,  and  you  know  this  man  speaks  truly.     But 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  197 

you  ain't  in  the  shafting  business,  and  don't  propose 
to  go  into  the  business.  You  have  shafting  jobs  now 
and  then,  and  want  to  do  the  work  fair  in  quality  and 
reasonable  in  price.  You  don't  expect  to  do  it  as  cheap 
as  Hotchkiss  does,  who  makes  a  specialty  of  it.  You 
see  at  once  that  this  man,  who  was  all  right  in  Hotch- 
kiss' shop,  don't  know  anything  about  turning  shaft- 
ing at  all.  You  hunt  up  a  boy  in  the  other  end  of  the 
shop— a  long-legged,  long-headed  youth,  who  has  spent 
two  years  with  you  learning  the  machinist's  trade.  He 
knows  how  to  turn  shafting,  and  you  know  it.  You 
put  him  on  the  long  lathe,  and  he  gives  you  forty  feet 
of  shafting  in  ten  hours,  and  it's  forty  times  as  good 
as  the  machinist  from  Hotchkiss'  shop  could  turn.  If 
your  long-legged  boy  ever  gets  a  job  in  Hotchkiss' 
shop,  Hotchkiss  will  have  a  rough  diamond  capable  of 
high  polish. 

*  *     *     *     You    give   the   new  man  another  lathe 
and  set  him  to  boring  pulleys.     He  bores  about  three 
miserable  holes  in  a  day.     He  finds  no  pulley-boring 
machine,  no  good  chuck  drills,  no  reamers,  no  nothing. 
He  ridicules  the  idea  of  doing  work  without  tools.    He 
never  looks  at  his  own  deficiencies,  but  looks  at  the 
deficiencies  of  the  shop.     He  is  a  nice  fellow,  but  is 
not  smart  enough  to  admire  the  men  all  around  him, 
who,  every  hour  in  the  day,  are  doing  things  he  canvt 
do  at  all. 

*  *     *     *     You  tell  the  new  man  he  is  a  failure  on  a 
lathe.     You  set  him  to  key-seating  some  big  pulleys. 
They  must  be  chipped  and  filed.     Does  he  go  and  get 
good,  solid  side  chisels  dressed,  and  does  he  lay  a  wide, 
straight  edge  in  the  hole  and  draw  one  mark  to  chip 
his  key-seat  to  ;  and  does  he  sit  down  on  a  block  and 
send  three  heavy,  nice,  clean,  straight,  flat  cuts  through 
the  pulley  ;  and  does  he  file  five  minutes  and  show  you 
a  nice,  clean  key-seat,  out  of  wind  and  free  from  chisel 


198  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

marks,  all  done  in  forty  minutes  ?  No  ;  he  don't.  He 
never  cut  a  key-seat,  and  never  saw  one  cut  in  this 
way.  He  was  brought  up  alongside  a  slotting  ma- 
chine, and  he  is  now  five  hundred  miles  from  the  near- 
est slotting  machine.  He  knows  he  can't  do  this  job, 
and  is  smart  enough  to  tell  you  so.  This  man  is  no 
machinist  at  all.  He  served  a  five  years'  apprentice- 
ship, and  worked  eight  years  in  one  of  the  best  shops 
in  the  United  States,  but  he  is  actually  of  less  value 
than  your  youngest  cub.  You  put  the  case  to  him 
fairly  ;  tell  him  you  need  men  and  like  his  looks,  and 
that  if  he  can  point  out  any  work  in  the  shop  which 
he  can  do  properly,  you  will  be  glad  to  keep  him.  He 
feels  badly  ;  and  after  looking  around,  decides  that  he 
can't  do  what  the  poorest  men  in  the  shop  are  doing. 
He  will  do  one  of  two  things  :  If  he's  a  coward,  with- 
out any  coarse  grit  in  him,  he  will  abandon  the  "  ma- 
chinist "  trade  and  tramp  back  to  Hotchkiss  and  beg 
for  a  job  on  that  shafting  lathe.  If  he  has  the  right 
stuff  in  him,  he  will  start  in  and  learn  the  trade.  He 
has  sense  and  experience  and  don't  need  to  commence 
just  like  a  boy.  He  can  start  anywhere  he  chooses,  at 
such  wages  as  his  work  shows  he  earns,  and  increase 
his  wages  as  he  increases  his  value. 

*  *  *  *  You  go  into  one  of  these  rough-and- 
tumble  shops  and  watch  a  man  at  a  lathe.  He  whistles 
and  sings  and  skylarks  and  smokes,  maybe,  and  does 
a  hundred  other  things  which  the  high  and  mighty 
think  ought  to  send  a  man  to  the  penitentiary.  But 
don't  that  chap  do  the  work,  though  !  Don't  he  earn 
and  get  good  wages,  and  don't  the  proprietor  make 
more  out  of  him  every  day  than  the  high  and  mighty 
do  out  of  three  men  who  were  brought  up  to  use  every 
modern  facility,  and  who  are  stumped  if  one  of  the 
aforesaid  facilities  happens  to  get  broken.  Watch  this 
outre  machinist  as  he  works.  He  runs  an  eighteen- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  199 

inch  lathe,  perhaps,  and  the  work  brought  to  him 
might  well  be,  and,  in  a  better  fixed  shop  would  be, 
distributed  among  big  lathes,  little  lathes,  Fox  lathes, 
planers,  slotters,  milling  machines,  cutting  machines, 
drilling  machines,  screw  machines,  bolt  cutters,  gear 
cutters,  etc.  But  this  chap  does  everything  which 
is  laid  by  his  lathe.  Some  he  does  tip-top,  some 
he  leaves  slouchy,  but  all  of  it  is  done  as  well 
as  is  required.  He  does  this  all  the  time.  He  lives 
on  it.  Every  job  he  does  is  something  he,  or  any- 
body else,  never  did  before,  but  he  does  it  all  the 
same.  This  man  is  no  mere  machine  wound  up  and 
set  to  running  a  shafting-turning  machine.  This  shop 
isn't  a  manufacturing  concern  with  a  system  adapted 
to  a  special  product. 

This  is  one  of  my  Simon  Pure  machine  shops,  doing 
job  work,  new  and  old,  and  this  fellow  we  see  is  a 
lordly  lathesman,  a  real  machinist.  You  may  set  him 
down  in  any  shop  in  the  world  where  there's  a  lathe, 
and  a  job  to  do,  and  he  can  do  it.  He  will  jump  at 
new  and  better  ways,  but  is  not  helpless  in  the  mean- 
time. He's  no  baby.  He's  a  machinist,  and  he  is 
worth  money  every  day.  Oh,  ye  puny  chaps  that 
claim  to  be  lathesmen  !  You  only  know  one  way  of 
doing  things,  and  that's  the  way  you  were  taught  to 
do  it.  You  only  know  how  to  do  one  job,  and  that's 
the  job  you  worked  on  while  you  were  being  taught, 
and  you  can't  do  that  job  when  you  get  in  another 
shop  away  from  home.  Aren't  you  ashamed  to  ridi- 
cule a  poor,  one-horse  machine  shop  when  every  man 
in  it  is  immeasurably  your  superior  ?  Aren't  you 
ashamed  to  claim  fellowship  and  equal  wages  with 
these  sharp  fellows,  full  of  mechanical  wit,  who  do 
work  every  day  which  you  don't  even  dare  to  under- 
take ?  You  say  they  can't  do  it  well.  You  can't  do  it 
at  all.  You  don't  know  how  to  tackle  it.  *  *  *  "  * 


200  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

*  *  *  *  Look  at  the  job  this  lathesman  gets.  He  is 
sitting  on  a  casting  and  handling  a  connecting  rod 
strap.  It's  a  rough  forging  for  a  strap  to  hold  square 
boxes.  You  can't  see  a  bit  of  lathe-work  about  it  any- 
where, or  a  chance  for  any.  Pretty  soon  he  gets  his 
present  job  done.  Now  he  puts  a  miserable  looking 
angle-plate  against  his  face-plate,  and  sets  this  strap 
in  some  shape.  He  fishes  a  dirty  piece  of  paper  out 
of  his  tool  box.  This  paper  contains  a  memorandum 
of  sizes  which  he  took  down  verbatim  as  the  foreman 
gave  them.  He  goes  to  work,  and  in  two  hours,  lays 
two  hours  of  planing  on  the  floor.  He  has  surfaced 
that  strap  nicely  and  squarely  all  over  the  outside. 
There's  one  job  of  "  lathework  "  done.  There  is  but 
one  planer  in  the  shop,  and  that  is  too  much  crowded 
to  be  doing  anything  that  can  be  done  in  any  other 
machine.  That  same  planer  will  stand  still  six  months 
in  the  year,  so  it  would  be  folly  to  get  another,  and 
thus  be  ready  for  a  rush  which  never  comes  when  you 
are  ready. 

*  *     *     *     Here  goes  for  the   next  job.     Twelve 
stubs  about   two    feet    long,  one   and    three-quarters 
diameter,  to  have  thread  cut  eight  inches  on  one  end. 
No  turning,  simply  a  thread  to  be  cut.     They  belong 
to  a  bridge  bolt  job,  and  the  bolt  cutter  has  no  dies 
for  this  size.     Soon    this   job  is  done.     It  isn't  nice 
lathe  work.     Nothing  to  be  proud  of,  but  it  is  o.  k.  in 
every  way.     What  next  ?     He  puts  on  a  chuck  and 
proceeds  to  chase  out  twelve  hot -pressed  nuts  for  these 
bridge  bolts.     Ough  !    how  your  teeth  grit  to  see  a 
lathesman  having  to  do  such  a  job.     It's  a  nasty  job, 
but  there's  no  tap  that  size,  and  soon  it's  done  and  off 
this  chap's  mind. 

*  *     *     *     Next  comes  some  nice  lathe  work  ;  a 
couple  of  valve  stems  and  two  or  three  small  wrists. 
They  are  finished  to  the  sizes  given  and  nicely  polished. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S     LETTERS.  2OI 

He  gets  them  done,  and  feels  proud  of  them.     Bless 
him,  any  lathesman  can  do  such  work. 

*  *  *  *  Here's  a  brass  casting  for  a  two-inch 
stop-cock,  and  by  it  lies  the  old  one.  It's  a  repair  job. 
The  old  one  is  bursted  wide  open.  The  plug  is  swelled, 
but  not  broken.  Does  a  foreman  come  around  and 
instruct  this  man  how  to  do  this  job  ?  No,  sir.  His 
orders  were  to  "  rig  up  that  cock."  He  takes  the  cast- 
ing, chucks  it,  and  in  half  an  hour  has  a  two-inch  pipe 
thread  chased  in  each  end.  Now  he  chucks  crosswise, 
and  you  suddenly  notice  that  tKis  cock  must  be  bored 
tapering.  How  is  this  fellow  going  to  bore  this  hole  ? 
Will  he  go  and  get  a  nice  taper  reamer  ?  I  guess  not 
in  this  shop.  Will  he  fit  up  some  kind  of  a  reamer  ? 
Not  he.  He  is  fitting  up  an  old  water-cock,  not  mak- 
ing new  reamers.  He'll  set  the  head  of  the  lathe  over, 
won't  he  ?  No,  he  won't.  The  head  of  the  lathe  can't  be 
swiveled.  Will  he  set  the  Slate  taper  attachment  over  ? 
Guess  not,  as  he  never  heard  of  Slate ;  and  don't  know 
what  a  taper  attachment  is.  Will  he  use  the  compound 
rest  ?  He  may  some  day,  when  such  a  thing  gets  into 
the  shop.  Will  he  stick  a  wedge  under  the  back  wing 
of  the  carriage  ?  No.  He  never  heard  of  it,  and  is 
not  so  deep  an  inventor  as  to  think  of  it  just  when  he 
wants  it.  Will  he  wrap  a  cord  around  his  cross-feed 
screw-handle  and  tie  it  to  his  tail-stock,  and  thus  get 
the  taper  ?  No,  he  has  no  time  to  invent  this  ingen- 
ious plan.  Will  he  find  a  fancy  little  sliding-head 
boring-bar  somewhere  ?  Not  a  bar.  Has  he  a  man- 
drel which  he  can  screw  his  chuck  on,  and  thus  do  the 
job  in  the  steady  rest  ?  No,  sir.  He  won't  do  any  of 
these  smart  things,  and  he  won't  tell  you  that  the  shop 
ought  to  have  a  Fox  lathe  for  such  work,  and  he  won't 
tell  you  how  the  Metropolitan  Cock  Company  bore 
them  out,  for  he  don't  know,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  add, 
he  don't  care.  All  he  cares  about  is  to  lay  that  cock 


202 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS. 


down  on  the  floor  and  call  it  done,  and  as  well  done  as 
is  needed. 

He  whistles  a  very  peculiar  air  in  a  very  soft  man- 
ner and  turns  his  cross  crank  slowly  to  keep  time. 
The  result  is  a  hole  which  is  tapering,  if  it's  nothing 
else.  It  would  have  taken  him  just  about  as  long  to 
bore  it  straight.  He  takes  the  job  out.  Puts  on  a 
face-plate,  and  puts  the  old  cock  plug  in  the  lathe. 
He  chalks  it  and  hammers  the  swells  out,  or  in,  rather. 
Then  he  sets  his  lathe  over  and  takes  a  light  cut  over 
it.  Then  he  marks  a  close  fit  in  the  cock,  but  keeps  the 
plug  large.  Now  he  goes  to  a  vise  and  files  the  hole.  It 
was  tapering  all  right,  but  the  sides  were  not  straight. 
He  files  carefully  but  boldly,  watching  the  tool  marks 
in  the  hole,  and  trying  the  plug.  Soon  he  is  done  with 
the  filing,  and,  returning  to  his  lathe,  completes  the 
fit  of  the  plug.  Now  he  grinds  it  in,  and  soon  there 
isn't  a  file  mark  or  a  tool  mark  in  the  hole  or  on  the 
plug.  It  is  simply  a  first-class,  water-tight  taper  job, 
quickly  done  in  a  third-class  manner.  He  screws  the 
thing  together,  and  bounces  the  next  job.  Time  on 
old  cock,  three  hours  and  a  quarter.  You  or  I  could 
not  do  it  as  well  or  as  quick  with  all  the  cock-making 
appliances  in  existence.  This  man  never  fitted  up  a 
water-cock  before.  He  is  a  machinist,  and  will  hustle 
out  any  job  you  will  bring  him,  and  will  do  it  as  well 
as  you  want  it  done,  and  no  better.  *  *  * 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  203 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

GEOGRAPHY    IN     MACHINE     BUILDING. — GETTING     READY 
FOR    BUSINESS. — TWO    CASES   IN    POINT. 

*  *     *     *     Many  manufacturers  jump  at  the  con- 
clusion, if  they  have  something  to  sell  which  it  is  to  a 
party's  real  interest  to  buy,  that  the  party  will  buy  if 
he  has  the  money.     This  won't  do  at  all;  economical 
devices  cannot  be  sold  on  their  merits.      Geography 
enters  largely  into  the  question:  people  in  one  locality 
are  frugal,  thrifty,  and  rich;   they  spend  a  dollar  to 
save  two,  and  by  that  means  gain  their  riches.     In 
another  locality  the  people  will  positively  decline  to 
spend  a  dollar  to  save  ten.     They  are  not  frugal,  they 
are  not  prudent;  they  are  thrifty  and  they  are  rich. 
A  Texas  farmer  would  starve  to  death  in  Connecticut; 
he  would  not  work  hard  enough  to  get  a  living  out  of 
the  soil ;  the  soil  is  different,  and  he  comes  from  a  dif- 
ferent class  of  people. 

*  *     *     *     The  steam  engine  is  essentially  an  ele- 
ment of  modern  economy;  the  steam  engine  is  not  the 
same  the  world  over  by  a  great  deal.    In  our  Southern 
States  many  long-stroke,  slow-speed  engines  use  their 
steam  at  nearly  full  stroke.    In  the  Middle,  States  pro- 
portions are  changed  ;  the  lap  of  the  valve  is  increased, 
a  variable  cut-off  added,  and,  once  in  a  great  while,  an 
automatic  cut-off  is  found.     In  the  older  New  England 
States  we  find  the  finest  types  of  automatic  cut-off 
engines  predominant,  and,  in  many  cases,  a  condenser 
added.     In  the  old  countries  of  Europe  every  pool  of 
water  is  found    steaming  hot  with  the  discharge   of 
numberless  condensers. 

*  *     *     *     jf  a  hundred  horse-power  engine,  using 
steam  full  stroke,  is  kept  in  fuel  for  fifteen  dollars  a 
day,  it  is  doing  well.     If  the  valve  of  this  engine  be 


204  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

altered  and  the  throw  increased,  ten  dollars  will  buy 
the  coal  required  each  day.  If  it  cost  ten  thousand 
dollars  to  lengthen  this  valve,  the  investment  would 
be  a  capital  one.  Such  a  change  costs,  in  fact,  about 
fifty  dollars.  If  a  good  automatic  valve  gear  be  put 
on  the  engine,  six  dollars  and  a  half  will  pay  for  the 
coal  required.  The  three  dollars  and  a  half  a  day 
thus  saved  would  be  good  interest  on  ten  thousand 
dollars.  The  change  can  generally  be  made  for  five 
hundred  dollars.  If  water  is  handy,  and  a  good  con- 
denser be  added,  five  dollars  a  day  will  pay  for  the 
coal  required.  The  dollar  and  a  half  a  day  thus  saved 
will  be  good  interest  on  ten  thousand  dollars.  The 
change  can  generally  be  made  for  a  thousand  dollars. 
If  a  man  has  a  hundred  horse-power  engine,  using  its 
steam  full  stroke,  and  will,  at  one  bold  stroke,  make  it 
properly  automatic  and  condensing,  he  will  save  ten 
dollars  a  day,  or  ten  per  cent,  on  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

*  *     *     *     you  would  think,  if  you  were  the  proud 
builder  of  a  tip-top  condensing  engine  with  automatic 
cut-off,  if  you  held  this  hundred  horse-power  engine 
for  three  thousand,  or  four  thousand,  or  five  thousand 
dollars,  if  you  offered   it  for  sale  in  localities  where 
wasteful  engines  were  used,  that  there  would  be  such 
an  overwhelming  rush  of  orders  that  you  would   go 
crazy.     But  such  would  not  be  the  case  ;  there  would 
be  no  rush  of  orders  from  such  a  locality,  and  if  you 
went  daft  it  would  be  from  disappointment.    The  place 
to  sell  such  engines  is  right  where  people  use  such 
engines.     I  don't  build  such  engines  myself,  and  have 
had  no  experience  in  the  matter,  but  I  leave  it  to  any 
high  class  engine  builder  in  the  country  who  has  ever 
tried  to  introduce  his  engines  in  localities  where  the 
greatest  economical  changes  could  be  wrought. 

*  *     *     *     It  is  the  miser  who  seeks  new  ways  of 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  205 

saving  money.  It  is  the  prodigal  who  welcomes  new 
suggestions  as  to  spending  money.  If  we  get  along 
with  something  mean,  we  don't  care  if  it  gets  a  little 
meaner.  If  we  appreciate  that  which  is  good,  we  will 
seek  for  that  which  is  better.  Bad  leads  to  worse,  and 
good  leads  to  better. 

*  *  *  *  Speaking  of  investment,  leads  me  to 
think  that  there  is  a  great  geographical  difference  in 
our  capitalists.  I  made  a  short  stay  in  the  Middle 
States  lately,  and  noticed  that  as  a  general  thing  there 
was  but  little  capital  invested  in  what  in  the  East  would 
be  considered  as  well-equipped  factories.  I  refer  here 
to  metal  industries  exclusively.  Eastern  manufactur- 
ers are  cautious  about  picking  up  a  thing,  but  when 
they  do  it  they  have  a  good  grip  on  it.  It  is  no  unu- 
sual thing  to  find  a  new  building  in  New  England, 
out  of  which,  for  two  years,  come  an  army  of  work- 
men, all  drawing  good  pay.  This  is  to  be  a  factory 
some  day.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars  are 
being  spent  in  equipping  the  concern  with  the  most 
efficient  machinery.  Not  a  pound  of  goods  going  out 
— not  a  dollar  coming  in. 

Every  little  expense  which  promises  to  return  itself 
a  hundred  fold  when  things  start  up,  is  borne  with 
patience.  This  thing  would  work  in  the  West  for 
about  three  weeks,  and  then  capitalists  would  begin  to 
ask  when  this  paying-out  process  was  going  to  stop. 
There  are  exceptional  cases,  of  course,  but  as  a  gen- 
eral thing  Western  capitalists  have  been  very  slow 
about  investing  in  manufacturing  business.  It  don't 
seem  enough  like  trade.  In  trade  you  pay  money  for 
an  article  which  you  sell  instantly  at  an  advance.  As 
soon  as  you  part  with  your  money  you  have  its  equiv- 
alent. But  in  the  factory  things  are  different.  The 
big  money  goes,  perhaps,  into  special  machinery,  which 
is  not  for  sale  or  salable.  The  main  money  is  invested 


206  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL'S     LETTERS. 

in  a  process.  In  New  England  the  intention  seems  to 
be  to  fix  for  making  money,  no  matter  what  it  costs. 
You  will  see  little  of  this  kind  of  business  done  in 
metal  in  the  West. 

The  New  England  factory  evidently  purposes  com- 
mencing when  it  commences.  In  the  West  "  business  " 
commences  as  soon  as  money  commences  to  go  out, 
and  Western  men  are  not  up  to  paying  out  long  at  a 
time  without  looking  around  for  a  return. 

The  Westerners  will  take  up  with  a  good  thing,  get 
it  into  crude  shape  ;  manufacture  in  a  sort  of  a  way, 
go  into  the  market,  and  fail  on  account  of  the  general 
prematureness  of  the  thing,  and  they  will  do  it  all 
before  the  New  Englander  decides  to  put  money  into 
it.  But  when  the  thing  is  pronounced  all  right,  the 
New  Englander  does  take  hold  of  it  sure  enough. 

If  the  article  is  a  new  invention,  whose  raw  principle 
is  full  of  certain  promise,  special  skill  is  employed  to 
get  it  into  a  superior  practical  form.  This  is  often 
omitted  in  the  West.  After  being  reduced  to  a  practi- 
cal, useful  form,  special  skill  is  employed  to  get  it  into 
a  shape  adapted  to  systematic  manufacture — to  ma- 
chine construction — to  cheap  excellence.  This  is  almost 
always  omitted  in  the  West.  The  sample  being  done, 
special  skill  is  employed  to  contrive  and  construct 
special  machinery  for  its  production.  This  is  almost 
always  omitted  in  the  West.  These  things  cost  a  fear- 
ful sight  of  money,  and  the  Western  folks  have  not 
learned  to  stand  the  strain. 

In  New  England,  after  the  crude  principle  is  ap- 
proved, after  the  most  useful  form  is  given  at  great 
expense,  after  the  form  has  been  adapted  to  manufac- 
ture, after  a  world  of  special  machines  have  been  con- 
trived and  built,  after  two  or  three  years'  time,  and 
say  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  have  been  expended 
— then,  and  not  till  then,  are  the  factory  doors  thrown 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  207 

open,  and  the  world  informed  that  this  is  a  screw- 
driver factory,  or  some  such  thing.  Then  the  product 
is  offered,  and  then  the  public  buy.  The  article  they 
buy  is  as  good  as  money  and  skill  can  produce  it,  and 
sales  will  continue  till  such  an  article  is  no  longer 
needed.  All  this  may  happen  after  the  same  article, 
in  a  general  way,  has  failed  on  the  market,  owing  to 
a  premature  delivery.  You  know  1  am  no  Yankee,  so 
I  am  not  blowing.  I  may  possibly  have  a  better  mo- 
tive. 

*  *  *  *  As  an  example  of  New  England  opera- 
tions, let  me  cite  one  case  :  A  steam  engine  of  entire 
new  type  was  devised.  It  was  taken  to  a  celebrated 
concern.  It  was  approved,  and  taken  in  hand.  An 
engineer  skilled  in  the  science  of  steam  and  mechanics 
re-designed  it.  An  engineer  skilled  in  manufacturing 
joined  hands  and  heads  with  the  steam  man,  and  the 
result  was  a  machine  which  looked  all  right  to  the 
steam  man,  and  which  the  factory  man  said  he  could 
make  well,  and  cheap,  and  profitably.  Then  a  few 
were  made  as  any  single  article  would  be  made. 

In  the  West  these  few  engines  would  have  been  sold 
and  some  money  brought  in.  But  not  so  in  this  case. 
These  engines  were  put  to  work,  surrounded  by  skilled 
tests.  They  confirmed  the  judgment  of  the  parties 
who  were  "  looking  into  it."  .  Did  they  go  to  work  and 
sell  them  then  ?  No,  sir.  They  then  began  the  tests 
for  durability.  Hour  after  hour  and  month  after  month 
— every  hour  that  there  was  steam  in  the  factory  boil- 
ers, did  these  engines  whirl  away  at  their  heaviest 
loads,  under  every  possible  change  in  work  and  hand- 
ling, and  under  the  closest  of  scrutiny.  They  are  run- 
ning yet,  and  will  be  running  next  Christmas.  When 
this  test  is  over,  will  these  factory  people  commence  to 
make  this  engine  for  sale?  I  doubt  it.  I  do  not  think 
they  will  ever  "  make  "  these  engines.  When  the  tests 


208  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

are  over,  the  system  of  manufacture,  already  in  view, 
will  be  elaborated,  and  then  a  fortune  will  be  expended 
in  appliances  ;  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  will  the 
public  be  asked  to  buy.  The  engines  will  be  manufac- 
tured, not  "made,"  and  that  "manufacture"  means 
a  well  studied  and  economical  production  which  is  to 
the  benefit  of  all  concerned.  All  this,  of  course,  in  case 
this  engine  proves  "  durable."  It  may  be  disappoint- 
ing, in  which  case  the  whole  thing  will  go  into  the 
scrap  pile  ;  and  the  cost  will  be  charged  to  expense, 
and  will  be  a  small  loss  to  a  concern  which  has  ac- 
cumulated millions  of  dollars  by  a  continued  demand 
for  articles  treated  in  the  same  careful,  cautious,  pains- 
taking manner. 

These  heavy  investments,  based  on  a  hope  of  future 
return,  are  not  an  inventor's  worship  of  his  idol.  This 
engine  came  from  afar.  These  are  capitalists  looking 
up  investments. 

I  honestly  think  that,  if  this  same  engine  had  been 
sprouted  in  the  West,  it  would  have  been  in  the  market 
years  ago,  and  more  than  likely  it  would  have  been 
"  dead,  buried  and  resurrected,  and  its  body  strung  on 
wires." 

*  *  *  *  Another  case  :  A  Western  firm  "  made  " 
a  certain  machine.  Cut  prices  began  to  bring  the 
blood.  There  was  competition  from  New  England. 
Both  parties  made  the  machine  quite  well.  The  West- 
ern firm  resolved  that  something  must  be  done  to 
cheapen  the  machine.  It  could  not  be  made  any  light- 
er, for  it  only  had  panic  thickness  anyhow.  Wages 
could  not  be  cut,  for  there  was  no  substance  to  cut  at. 

The  question  came  down  to  a  simple  question  of 
reducing  the  amount  of  work  on  the  thing.  The  com- 
mon Western  plan  of  cheapening  a  product  is  to  leave 
Something  off.  They  did  this  thing  :  they  reduced 
everything,  and  cut  and  slashed  as  long  as  they  thought 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  2OQ 

the  machine  would  pass  muster.  Then  they  cut  prices 
twenty  per  cent.  Now,  the  Yankee  manufacturers  of 
this  machine  had  never  been  well  fixed,  as  they  called 
it,  for  manufacturing  ;  the  last  wind  from  the  West 
began  to  hurt ;  something  must  be  done  with  that 
machine.  Did  they  think  of  reducing  the  value  and 
cost  of  the  thing  by  leaving  some  of  the  work  off  ? 
They  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  Yankee  never 
takes  that  view  of  matters.  They  let  the  product  alone 
and  hopped  upon  the  process  and  revolutionized  it. 
They  invested  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  special  ma- 
chinery and  commenced  on  a  new  lot  of  machines. 
The  special  machinery  had  been  designed  to  do  the 
work  as  well  as  possible,  and  when  the  lot  was  com- 
plete it  was  found  that  there  was  more  profit  in  the 
work  at  the  last  cut  price  than  there  had  ever  been  at 
any  previous  price. 

They  had  kept  about  ten  men  on  the  work  hereto- 
fore. The  Western  concern  had  about  the  same  num- 
ber. The  East  now  cut  the  price  ten  per  cent,  more, 
intending  at  one  swoop  to  kill  their  competitors,  and 
enhance  the  demand  for  the  machine. 

They  did  so  with  this  result :  The  Western  men 
dropped  the  thing,  saying  they  had  done  everything 
that  good  mechanics  could  do  in  the  matter,  that  the 
Yankees  were  working  at  a  loss  against  which  no  good 
business  house  could  compete,  and  that  it  was  entirely 
too  sick  a  cat  to  get  well.  The  new  machines  were  so 
much  nicer  than  the  old  ones  that  they  were  hardly 
recognized,  and  now  over  sixty  men  work  on  these 
machines. 

*  *  *  *  Here  is  a  case  where  cut  prices  forced 
the  use  of  the  much-abused  labor-saving  machinery, 
and  where  the  much-abused  labor-saving  machinery 
led  to  the  permanent  employment  of  forty  men  in  a 
new  industry.  I  could  write  you  down  ten  thousand 
instances  of  similar  cases  in  this  last  particular. 


,210  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     XXV. 

WORKING     FOR     NOTHING. HOW    CHORDAL     GOT    UGLY.—  • 

SIXTEEN     GLASSES   OF    BEER. — MONEY    SAVED     ON     MAN- 
DRELS. 

*  *  *  *  What  do  you  think  of  a  man  who  will 
work  for  nothing  ?  Of  a  man  who  will  get  up  in  the 
night  and  tramp  off  to  a  machine  shop  with  a  tin  buck- 
et on  his  arm  ;  who  will  put  on  overalls  at  seven 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  keep  them  on  till  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening  ;  who  will  stand  at  somebody 
else's  lathe,  or  planer,  or  slotter,  or  vise,  and  hammer 
on  somebody  else's  pieces  of  iron  all  day  long,  and  keep 
it  up  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  and  month 
after  month,  and  year  after  year,  from  the  time  he  goes 
at  the  trade  at  fourteen  years  of  age  till  he  dies  ;  and 
all  for  nothing?  I  don't  mean  the  kind  of  men  who 
find  delight  in  seeing  crude  material  develop  and  grow 
into  useful,  finished  products,  but  the  kind  of  men  who 
have  no  earthly  interest  in  development  and  growth, 
and  don't  care  a  cent  about  useful,  finished  products. 
Do  you  know  any  such  men,  working  through  their 
whole  lives,  and  bringing  the  sweat  at  every  blow — 
and  doing  it  all  for  nothing  ?  I  know  them,  lots  of 
them.  There  are  a  hundred  thousand  men  working  in 
machine  shops  to-day  who  cannot  show  twenty-five 
cents  for  the  last  twenty  years'  work.  They  have 
worked  every  day  and  have  drawn  their  pay.  But 
where  is  it  ?  They  have  had  no  grave  calamities,  no 
bad  debts,  no  heavy  losses  on  indorsements,  no  for- 
feited bond  for  a  friend  in  office — nothing  which  im- 
poverishes men,  but  everything  which  makes  men  in- 
dependent, to  wit  :  income,  sure  and  steady,  and  to 
be  depended  on  every  time.  Of  these  hundred  thou- 
sand men  I  speak  of,  over  fifty  thousand  haven't  got 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL S    LETTERS.  211 

ten  cents  in  their  pockets  at  this  minute,  and  won't 
have  till  next  pay-day.  They  will  work  day  after  day, 
and  draw  pay  after  pay.  But  when  they  leave  one  job 
and  travel,  do  they  take  any  of  this  good  money  with 
them  ?  Not  much.  They  borrow  to  pay  for  the  trip. 
These  same  hundred  thousand  will  raise  a  row  to  get 
ten  cents  a  day  more,  which  is  right  in  principle;  but 
I  want  to  know  what  becomes  of  this  ten  cents.  They 
used  to  get  thirty  and  fifty  cents  more,  but  they  can't 
show  that  the  old  figure  produced  any  tangible  results. 

*  *     *     *     It  won't  do  to  say   broadly  that  men 
spend  their  earnings  in  drink,  etc.     It  won't  do,  for 
two  reasons  :  first  and  foremost,  it  isn't  true,  and  sec- 
ond and  hindermost,  that's  a  good  way  to  spend  money 
if  the  sole  object  is  to  get  rid  of  it  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  that  in  reality  seems  to  be  the  main  object  with 
the  hundred  thousand. 

*  *     *     *     I  tell  you,  and  I  can  prove  it  by  every 
"  dead-broke  "  machinist  in  the  land,  that  the  reason 
the  hundred   thousand  are  always  "  strapped  "  is  not 
because  they  drink,  or  smoke,  or  gamble,  or  wear  dia- 
monds, or  keep  fast  horses,  or  nice  places  in  the  coun- 
try, but  simply  because  they  don't  know  what  to  do 
with  their  pay.   Let  one  of  these  fellows  draw  a  month's 
pay.     He  goes  and  pays  bills  he  owes,  invests  some- 
thing in  the  worst  clothes  he  can  find,  and  keeps  the 
rest  in  his  pocket.     It  begins  to  fester  right  away.     A 
workingman,  with  a  few  extra  dollars  in  his  pocket, 
often  has  really  painful  desires  to  find  something  to 
spend  a  little  something  on.     He  can't  think  of  any- 
thing he  wants,  and  feels  the  existence  of  a  void.     In 
a  few  days  the  stuff  is  gone,  and  then  some  necessities 
arise.    Credit  is  drawn  on.    Small  quantities  of  second- 
class  necessities,  on  credit  at  a  high  price,  is  what  uses 
up  the  cream  of  the  next  pay.     I  have  known  a  well- 
paid  machinist  to  get  eight  pounds  of  heavy  brown 


212  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

sugar  on  pay-night,  when  he  had  thirty  dollars  in  his 
pocket  which  he  had  no  idea  under  heaven  what  he 
was  going  to  do  with.  The  idea  of  getting  fifty  pounds 
of  good  sugar  never  occurred  to  him.  Before  the  next 
pay-day  he  would  be  getting  horrible  sugar  on  credit, 
by  the  half-dollar's  worth,  at  outrageous  prices. 

*  *     *     *     These  very  men,  who  do  no  good  with 
their  money,  who  can't  show  any  little  fund  laid  up; 
who  can't  show  a  decent  wardrobe  ;  who  never  gave  a 
friend  a  present  costing  ten   dollars;  who  never  spend 
two  dollars  on   pleasure  travel ;  who  can't  show  five 
dollars'  worth  of  books  ;    who  have  no  wife  or  chil- 
dren made  comfortable  by  wise  expenditures  ;    who 
have  no  balance  in  the  office;  who  haven't  got  a  har- 
dened steel  square  in  their  tool-kit,  because  it  costs  a 
day's  pay  ;  who  never  buy  good  cigars,  and  who  will 
buy  bad  whisky  when  tip-top  whisky  is  the  same  price 
— these  very  men  are  the  men  to  kick  the  hardest  for 
higher  pay.     They  will  say  :  "  I  can't  stay  here  long, 
wages  are  too  low."     They  play  hob  if  they  find  some 
other  fellow  getting  five  cents  a  day  more  than  they 
do  themselves. 

*  *     *     *     As  you  use  discretion  in  selecting  ex- 
tracts from  my  letters,  I  don't  mind  standing  for  an 
awful   example.     Years   ago  I  worked   for   the    Hall 
Steam  Engine  Company.    That  is  to  say,  I  put  in  time 
on  their  premises  and  got  their  money.    I  ran  a  planer. 
The  aforesaid   company  was  composed  of  Tom  and 
Charlie  Hall.     They  were  not  mechanics,  but  hailed 
from  the  salt  sea.     Tom  had  been  master,  and  Charlie 
had  been  master's  mate,  on  some  sort  of  a  sea  craft  at 
some  time,  and  the  shop  was  their  quarter-deck,  and 
is  now,  for  aught  I  know.     They  were  both  good  men, 
and  showed  more  than  common  sense  in  some  of  the 
details  of  their  business. 

In  the  same  town  were  located  the  immense  railroad 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.       213 

shops  of  the  Under  Pavonia  Railroad.  These  shops 
worked  sometimes  fifteen  hundred  men,  and  it  gener- 
ally happened  that  the  men  in  Hall's  shop  were  simply 
putting  in  time  while  waiting  for  some  promised  job 
in  the  U.  P.  shop.  To  do  business  with  such  men,  you 
will  readily  see,  required  skill  and  management.  Well, 
as  before  said,  I  worked  on  a  planer  at  Hall's,  and  I 
wasn't  waiting  for  a  U.  P.  job,  either.  As  near  as  I 
remember,  my  wages  were  three  and  a  half  a  day.  I 
worked  on  a  while,  and  finally  learned  that  a  German 
near  me,  by  the  name  of  Szcheinfule,  or  Swivel,  or 
some  such  name,  was  getting  three  seventy-five  a  day. 
Now,  you  know,  this  wouldn't  do.  It  didn't  make  any 
difference  in  my  finances  how  much  money  I  got  for 
my  work.  I  had  worked  for  three  dollars  and  for  six 
dollars,  and  it  was  all  the  same.  At  that  time  I  didn't 
have  any  wife  and  babies,  and  I  didn't  have  anything 
else,  and  no  amount  of  wages  would  give  me  anything 
else.  I  kept  grinding  over  the  matter  of  this  fellow 
getting  more  money  than  myself.  I  sat  on  that  planer 
table  and  brooded  and  talked  to  myself,  and  got  ugly. 
Now,  whether  you  know  it  or  not,  machinists  generally 
have  no  sense  on  the  question  of  wages  or  business. 
They  can't  talk  reasonably,  and  generally  they  put  off 
talking  till  they  get  mad,  and  then  they  blurt  out  like 
fools.  That  was  my  case,  anyhow.  I  kept  getting 
madder,  and  finally  bolted  into  the  office.  The  presi- 
dent, Mr.  Thomas  Hall,  who,  by  the  way,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature  was  there;  so  was  the  master's 
mate.  I  talked  loud,  and  asked  them  what  they  took 
me  for,  and  if  they  supposed  I  was  going  to  work 
alongside  of  Swivel  for  a  quarter  less  per  day;  told 
them  I  knew  my  rights,  and  I  wanted  my  pay  raised 
or  Swivel's  cut  down.  The  seafaring  men  waited  till 
I  exhausted  my  drivel,  and  then  Tom  Hall  said  : 
"  Chordal,  when  we  had  our  hands  full  of  work  and 


214  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

men  were  scarce,  the  U.  P.  shop  came  here  and  took 
all  our  men,  by  offering  them  temporary  jobs  at  four 
and  five  dollars  per  day.  Every  man  left  us  but  Swi- 
vel, and  he  didn't  come  in  and  bulldoze  us  for  a  raise, 
either.  He  stayed.  This  thing  happened,  not  only 
once,  but  a  dozen  times.  Swivel  is  not  a  first-class 
man.  If  we  would  discharge  him,  to-morrow  we  could 
hire  him  back  for  two  dollars  a  day;  but  he  has  acted 
square  with  us,  and  men  like  you  may  come  and  go  as 
much  as  they  please,  but  this  man  Swivel  will  stay  at 
the  same  wages  he  gets  now.  We  are  paying  this 
man  for  what  he  has  done  for  us.  If  you  ever  prove 
yourself  worthy  of  such  a  compliment,  we  would  be 
pleased  to  have  you  let  us  know  it.  We  advise  you  to 
go  and  sit  on  that  planer  another  day,  and  to-morrow, 
if  you  think  it  wise  to  be  silly,  you  can  do  so." 

*  *     *     *     My  better  judgment  prevailed,  and  ever 
since  then  I  have  always  had  a  great  deal  of  respect 
for   a   machinist  who,  without   any  nonsensical   self- 
abasement,  could  assure  himself  of  the  respect  of  his 
employers. 

*  *    *     *    While  I  think  of  the  Hall  Steam  Engine 
Company,  let  me  tell  you  of  another  case  :  A  young 
fellow  came  to  their  foreman,  Rogers,  and  asked  for  a 
job.     Rogers  said  he  was  sorry,  but  he  could  not  pos- 
sibly scare  up  a  job.     The  fellow  said  he  had  been  to 
the  U.   P.  shop,  and  there  wasn't  the  ghost  of   a  show 
there.     He  went  off.     The  next  night  Rogers  and  my- 
self were  drinking  beer  at  the  Tivoli  Garden,  and  who 
should  come  with  our  beer  but  this  same  chap  who  had 
asked  for  a  job! 

There  he  was  with  a  white  apron,  and  about  sixteen 
glasses  of  beer.  Now,  while  a  machinist  is  queer 
about  his  pride,  he  always  has  lots  of  it,  such  as  it  is. 

This  thing  touched  the  three  of  us.  Rogers,  on 
inquiry,  found  that  the  fellow  was  "dead  broke,"  and 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  217 

that  this  was  the  only  thing  that  had  opened  up.  He 
was  getting  a  dollar  a  day  of  sixteen  hours.  Rogers 
told  him  to  take  off  that  apron  and  square  up  with  the 
house  ;  told  him  to  come  to  the  shop  in  the  morning 
and  he  would  find  him  a  job  as  a  laborer,  and  as  soon 
as  there  was  a  chance  he  could  have  a  good  job.  The 
fellow  came,  and  was  set  to  work  unloading  coal-car 
lumber. 

On  pay  night,  this  same  fellow  raised  Cain,  and  quit 
incontinently  because  he  only  got  two  dollars  a  day 
when  men  in  the  shop  were  getting  three  and  a  half. 
He  knew  his  rights,  you  know. 

*  *     *     *     It  is  true,  that  the  balance  on  hand  is  a 
real  source  of  annoyance   to   the  hundred  thousand 
machinists  I  have  referred  to.     Some  will  read  this, 
and  I  defy  any  one  of  that  number  to  deny  it.     A  man 
with  a  big  family  accumulates  money  and  property  at 
a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day,  and  a  man  right  alongside 
of  him,  at  three  dollars  and  no  care,  never  has  a  dollar 
to  his  name,  and  never  has  a  dollar's  worth  of  goods 
to  show,  and  he  don't  drink  unreasonably  and  he  don't 
gamble.     Between  you  and  me,  I  think  this  is  just  as 
important  a  cjuestion  to  many  of  your  readers  as  the 
question  of  how  to  make  a  fluted  reamer  which  won't 
chatter.     What  does  a   man  need  to  care  about  the 
chatters,  if  the  reamer  don't  bring  in    any  returns  ? 
The  object  of  life  is  to  make  a  reamer  which  won't 
chatter,  and  to  be  able  to  show  some  of  the  comforts 
and  pleasures  of  life  as  the  result  of  having  made  a 
good  reamer  years  ago. 

*  *     *     *     If  the  owner  of  a  genuine,  simon-pure 
machine  shop,  and  by  that  I  mean  not  a  systematized 
manufacturing  establishment,  wants  his  eyes  opened, 
let  him  take  a  note-book  into  the  shop  and  keep  an 
account  of  the  money  spent  in  turning  up  mandrels  for 
one  month.     There  are  some  nice  machinists  in  the 


2l8  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

country,  who  don't  know  what  I  am  talking  about  when 
I  refer  to  turning  up  mandrels,  and  if  they  would  go 
into  one  of  these  common  shops  they  would  not  recog- 
nize a  mandrel  if  they  saw  it.  In  ninety-nine  shops 
out  of  a  hundred,  each  man  fits  his  mandrels  as  he  goes 
along.  He  keeps  them  lying  on  the  floor  under  the 
foot  of  his  lathe,  always.  All  the  mandrels  in  the  shop 
are,  of  course,  common  property. 

If  Walker  wants  to  turn  up  a  job,  he  takes  the  piece 
with  him  and  goes  down  among  his  lot  of  mandrels 
and  tries  to  find  one  which  will  fit  the  hole  he  has 
bored.  He  don't  find  one  big  enough,  so  he  goes  to 
Dix's  lathe,  and  don't  find  one  that  isn't  too  large.. 
He  makes  the  grand  rounds,  and  then  drops  into  the 
blacksmith  shop,  and  picks  out  of  the  scrap  pile  a  piece 
of  two-inch  round  iron,  maybe  eight  inches  long,  and 
maybe  eighteen.  He  goes  back  in  the  shop  and  cen- 
ters it,  and  starts  as  though  he  thought  of  drilling  the 
centers,  but  he  concludes  he  only  wants  to  use  the 
thing  half  an  hour,  so  there's  no  use  in  drilling.  Then 
he  gets  it  in  the  lathe,  and  when  he  gets  one  end 
squared  up,  he  concludes  that  it  is  too  much  trouble  to 
turn  the  thing  around  and  square  the  other  end,  so  he 
proceeds  to  make  his  fit.  First  a  heavy  cut,  then  a 
light  one,  then  two  more  light  ones,  then  he  files  it, 
and  then  he  tries  it,  and  then  his  chin  goes  up  and  his 
eyebrows  come  down,  for  his  mandrel  fits  like  a  mouse's 
tail  in  a  flour  barrel,  as  he  expresses  it  between  oaths. 
Now  it  luckily  happens  that  he  has  only  turned  up 
about  three  inches  in  length,  so  all  he  has  to  do  is  to 
turn  another  three  inches  and  get  a  good  fit,  you  know. 
He  is  bound  to  have  it  big  enough  this  time.  Soon  it 
is  done,  and  he  proceeds  to  drive  it  in.  The  thing  he 
drives  through  is  always  an  old  gear  brought  in  from 
the  scrap  pile  years  ago.  The  hole  in  the  aforesaid 
gear  is  so  big  that  it  would  let  his  job  right  through, 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  219 

so  he  hunts  up  something  smaller  to  lay  on  it.  He 
finds  it  necessary  to  use  two  or  three  of  these  under- 
lays, so  as  to  reduce  size  properly.  He  has  built  up 
a  cob  house  about  two  feet  high,  and,  ten  chances  to 
one,  one  of  the  "  cobs  "  is  a  nicely-bored  piece  of  fin- 
ished work.  No  matter;  he  puts  his  job  on  top  of  the 
pile  and  sticks  the  mandrel  in.  Then  he  hunts  up  a 
nut  always.  He  don't  find  any  loose  one,  unless  he 
takes  the  one  he  uses  for  a  candlestick  and  keeps 
stored  on  the  inside  of  his  lathe.  He  finally  takes 
one  off  one  of  his  bolts,  and  carefully  balances  it 
on  the  craggy,  rough  end  of  his  mandrel.  Then 
he  calls  Dix  to  hold  the  mandrel.  Dix  does  so,  and 
Walker  goes  for  the  sledge  and  comes  down  on  the 
thing  three  times.  Too  tight.  He  lets  Dix  go,  and, 
turning  the  thing  end  for  end,  sets  the  nut  on  the 
mandrel,  and  comes  down  heavy  to  drive  the  mandrel 
out.  Mind  you,  he  is  getting  mad  all  this  time,  for  he 
is  having  bad  luck.  He  strikes  a  crooked  lick  and 
knocks  the  whole  cob  house  down,  and  the  hot-pressed 
nut  splits,  one  half  just  missing  Lambert's  ear  on  its 
way  to  the  foundry,  the  other  half  goes  out  the  front 
door  into  the  street.  He  erects  the  structure  again, 
and  fishes  out  his  candlestick.  After  knocking  the 
greasy  nut  off  two  or  three  times,  he  gets  his  mandrel 
out  and  files  it  smaller.  He  is  getting  a  little  bit  mad- 
der. Now  he  takes  it  out,  takes  the  dog  off,  goes  and 
hunts  up  the  nut  under  a  vise  bench,  and  starts  the 
mandrel.  It  drops  in  clear  up  to  the  shoulder.  He 
was  too  mad  when  he  filed  it  last.  He  is  entirely  too 
much  out  of  patience  now  to  turn  up  a  new  place,  so 
he  goes  to  a  vise,  and,  screwing  his  mandrel  in  it,  he 
proceeds  to  raise  a  burr  all  over  it  with  a  prick-punch. 
Everything  is  lovely  now.  He  cools  down  and  fin- 
ishes his  job,  but  in  the  meantime  his  job  slips  once  or 
twice,  and  he  is  compelled  to  prick-punch  some  more. 


22O  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

When  he  gets  done  he  throws  the  mandrel  under  his 
lathe.  The  next  time  he  uses  that  mandrel  he  will 
want  it  a  quarter  of  an  inch  smaller,  and  will  make  it 
so,  and  he  may  or  may  not  have  luck  in  making  his  fit. 
But  still  the  necessity  of  drilling  the  centers,  or  of 
squaring  that  other  end,  does  not  force  itself  upon 
him.  In  a  month  or  so  this  mandrel  has  been  made 
to  do  for  some  size  by  every  lathesman  in  the  shop. 
It  is  one  and  seven-eighths  at  one  end,  and  three- 
quarters  at  the  other,  for  it  has  been  used  for  every- 
thing it  could  be  made  to  answer  for.  In  course  of 
time  Walker  is  looking  for  a  mandrel  about  an  inch 
and  a  half.  He  has  his  job  with  him  and  is  search- 
ing under  Moore's  lathe,  and  finds  this  identical  man- 
drel, and,  as  good  luck  will  have  it,  there  is  a  place  on 
it  which  exactly  fits  his  job.  He  is  smart  enough  to 
put  it  in  the  lathe  to  see  how  much  the  small  and 
limber  end  of  it  has  got  bent  during  late  drivings. 
He  finds  that  no  part  is  true,  and  that  no  two  parts 
are  true  with  each  other,  which  shows  that  it  got  a 
new  bend  each  time  it  was  used.  The  part  he  wants 
is  almost  true.  He  can  see  it  wink  but  thinks  it  will 
do.  He  uses  it.  Here  are  five  botches  at  once  :  first, 
a  mandrel  which  is  not  true  ;  second,  an  inch  and  a 
half  mandrel  which  must  use  a  two-inch  dog,  and 
which  is  made  very  limber  by  having  part  of  its  length 
three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter;  third,  a  man- 
drel without  drilled  centers,  etc.  ;  fourth,  a  mandrel 
with  such  a  rough  surface-fit  that  it  must  be  driven 
with  a  sledge;  fifth,  a  machinist  who  will  play  unneces- 
sary parts  in  the  business;  and,  sixth,  a  shop  owner 
so  reckless  of  money  as  to  pay  each  year  for  mandrel 
turning,  an  amount  which  would  three  times  over  buy 
a  good  set  of  hardened  and  ground  steel  arbors.  Take 
your  note-book  into  the  shops.  If  you  have  a  good  set 
of  mandrels  they  will  save  big  money,  and  will  make 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S     LETTERS. 


221 


your  sizes  uniform,  because  the  boys  will  get  into  the 
habit  of  making  a  two-inch  hole  two  inches.  Such 
mandrels  are  ground  after  hardening,  and  the  surface 
fit  is  such  that  a  lead  or  copper  hand  hammer  will 
drive  a  three-inch  mandrel  for  twenty-four  inch  work. 
When  Walker  wants  a  mandrel  he  would  know  just 
what  to  get,  and  when  he  would  go  after  a  dog  he 
would  get  the  right  one,  instead  of  lugging  his  job  all 
round  the  shop  to  find  a  mandrel,  and  then  lugging 
the  mandrel  around  to  find  a  dog  to  fit  the  big  end. 

Don't  dream  of  making  nice  mandrels.  Go  and  buy 
them  the  same  as  you  would  buy  wood  screws,  from 
some  one  fixed  for  making  them. 


*     * 


MANDREL  FACTORY 


222  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

FINDING    ONE'S    VOCATION. HOW   BOB    DID    IT. PATTERN 

MAKING    IN  COUNTRY   SHOPS. — DEVICES   BORN  TOO   SOON. 

*  *     *     *     Men,  and  especially  mechanics,  are  al- 
ways wiser  and  better  after  making -some  big  mistake. 
They  are  in  some  degree  insured  against  the  mistake 
in  the  future.     The  best  machinists  it  has  ever  been  my 
good  luck  to  fall  in  with,  have  been  men  who  have 
gone  at  the  trade  after  a  long  experience  at  something 
else.     A  man  don't  find  out  what  is  in  him  till  he  has 
wrestled  with  circumstances  for  a  short  lifetime. 

*  *     *    *    Qne  0£  t|ie  cant  expressions  of  a  narrow- 
headed  mechanic  is,  "  Every  man  to  his  trade."    Such 
men  are  very  jealous  of  the  success  of  any  one  who 
slips  into  their  craft  edgewise. 

A  short-sighted  father  grabs  his  fourteen-year-old 
boy,  who  has  never  shown  any  loud  preferences  for 
the  vocation,  and  shoves  him  by  force  into  some  trade. 
The  boy  goes  at  it  passively,  and  without  becoming  in 
any  degree  a  smart  mechanic.  He  learns  the  use  of 
tools  and  regular  methods  of  procedure  in  regular 
cases.  In  irregular  cases  he  is  a  mere  cipher,  and 
don't  count.  After  a  term  of  three  or  four  years,  he 
asumes  the  dignities  of  a  journeyman.  He  knows  what 
he  has  learned,  and  nothing  else.  He  gets  the  lowest 
pay  which  a  boss  dares  pay  to  a  full-fledged  workman, 
and  that  is,  maybe,  a  trifle  more  than  he  is  worth.  He 
works  on  for  years,  but  is  nothing  but  a  skilled  ma- 
chine which  must  be  adjusted  for  every  new  condition. 
This  man  grumbles  at  the  poor  pay  a  good  mechanic 
has  to  work  for.  Some  one  suggests  that  perhaps  he 
is  not  a  good  mechanic,  and  points  to  real  mechanics 
around  him  who,  by  some  hocus  pocus,  get  a  great 
deal  better  pay  than  he  does.  Then  this  stock  me- 


EXTRACTS   FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.          223 

chanic  looks  around,  and  indignantly  protests  against 
Smith,  who  has  only  worked  half  as  long  at  the  trade 
as  he  has,  getting  more  pay  than  himself;  and  he 
points  derisively  to  Jones  as  a  man  who  never  did  serve 
a  time  at  the  trade;  and  to  Robinson,:  who  was  an  ap- 
prentice a  month  ago. 

These  three  men  get  better  pay  than  he  does,  and 
these  three  men  are  infinitely  better  mechanics  than  he 
will  ever  be.  The  probabilities  are  that  he  has  struck 
the  wrong  trade,  and  will  never  be  one  of  the  best,  or 
even  ordinary,  elements  of  it.  buch  men  are  to  be 
pitied. 

*  *  *  *  The  only  hope  for  them  is,  that  they  will  dis- 
cover some  vocation  which  they  can  excel  in,  and  will 
go  at  it.  A  man  of  middle  age,  who  has  had  a  long, 
even  if  unpleasant,  experience  in  hard  work  in  certain 
branches,  can  go  at  a  new  trade  and  be  excellent  in  a 
month,  perhaps.  The  manipulation  of  tools,  the  knowl- 
edge of  materials,  and  the  general  routine  of  mechanics' 
work,  is  similar  in  many  respects. 

A  good  marble  cutter  will  make  a  better  vise  hand 
in  a  machine  shop  in  one  month  than  a  printer  will  in 
two  years.  No  mechanic  ought  to  blush  to  use  his 
own  judgment  in  such  matters,  and,  even  after  years 
of  hard  tugging,  cut  loose  from  a  bondage  inflicted  by 
a  short-sighted  guardian,  and  go  at  something  which 
the  mature  judgment  of  manhood  tells  will  be  success- 
ful. ThisWtual  switching  around  of  good  men  who 
have  got  into  the  wrong  holes,  will  finally  get  each 
man  into  the  right  place.  Whenever  one  mechanic, 
good  or  bad,  sees  a  man  coming  into  his  trade  from 
some  other  trade,  he  can  feel  justified  in  giving  him  a 
welcome,  instead  of  muttering  "  Every  man  to  his 
trade." 

*  *  *  *  Once  in  a  while  you  hear  some  despond- 
ent workman  say,  "  There's  the  trade  I  ought  to  have 


224  EXTRACTS  FROM   CHORDAI/S  LETTERS. 

gone  at,"  and  once  in  a  while  I  say  to  such  a  man, 
"Go  at  the  trade  now."  Forty  years  is  none  too  old 
to  go  at  the  thing  a  man  feels  he  is  cut  out  for.  Every 
man  is  entitled  to  a  little  ordinary  every-day  success 
before  he  dies. 

*  *    *     *     Because  a  man,  after  fifteen  years'  hard 
work,  has  failed  to  make  a  tip-top  blacksmith  of  him- 
self, it  don't  follow  that  he  won't  make  a  good  surgeon? 
or  dentist,  or  executive  officer,  in  almost  any  business; 
and  there's  many  a  good  blacksmith,  if  he  only  knew 
it,  who  is  trying  to  accomplish  something  as  a  preacher, 
or  lawyer,  or  what  not.     I  say  that  "  Every  man  to  his 
trade "  is  a  good  motive,  and    I  say  that  it  is  every 
man's  privilege  at  any  time  in  life  to  find  out  what  his 
trade  is. 

*  *     *     *  This  whole  thing  is  brought  to  my  mind 
by  acquaintance  with  pattern  makers,  and  I  expect 
every  one  who  has  had  anything  to  do  with  pattern- 
makers has  had  my  experience.     There  is  not  a  shop 
in  the  country  employing  half  a  dozen  pattern-makers 
which  don't  get  into  a  pinch  once  in  a  while,  and  have 
to  put  a  carpenter,  or  a  cabinet-maker  on  pattern  work 
to  tide  over  a  rush.     After  a  while  one  of  these  wood 
butchers  will  come  around  and  say  he  would  like  a 
steady  job  under  instructions.     He  wants  to  quit  his 
present  trade  and  go  at  one  he  believes  he  will  excel  in. 

He's  my  man  every  time.  If  you  want  a  good  pat- 
tern-maker, this  is  the  kind  of  stuff  they  are  made  of, 
and  it  is  generally  a  hundred  per  cent,  better  than  ten- 
year-old  stock  that  don't  know  what  it  was  made  for, 
and  won't  know  for  thirty  years  more. 

*  *     *     *     There's   always   a  foolish  kick   in   the 
pattern-shop  when  this  man  goes  to  work.     The  pat- 
tern makers  want  to  know  why  this  man  don't  stay  at 
his  trade.   The  answer  is  simple  :  It's  because  he  don't 
want  to. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  22$ 

This  man  comes  with  years  of  experience  in  working 
wood  with  wood  tools,  and  with  a  mature  mechanical 
judgment  in  the  perception  of  things.  That  he  has 
good  sense  is  proven  by  his  choosing  his  vocation  be- 
fore he  dies. 

*  *     *     *     I    know  these   pattern   makers   like   a 
book.     There's   Bob,  for  instance,  is  an  old  pattern- 
maker, and  the  best  one  I  ever  had  anything  to  do 
with.     You   take  your  drawings  to  Bob  and  he  makes 
the  patterns.     And  the  patterns  are  right,  too.     You 
don't  have  to  measure  to  see  if  there's  shrinkage  here, 
and  rappage  there.     You  don't  have  to  find  out  if  this 
core  will  cut  through  where  you  don't  want  it  to,  or  if 
that  core  is  in  such  form   that  it  can't  be  set.     You 
need  have  no  anxiety  about  sizes,  or  about  bosses  com- 
ing in  the  right  place,  or  about  sharp  work  where  you 
want  fillets.     You  need  not  bother  yourself  about  the 
matter  at  all. 

If  your  drawing  was  right  the  patterns  will  be  right, 
and  you  can  order  them  into  the  foundry  without  any 
anxiety,  or  fussing,  or  wondering.  It's  Bob's  business 
to  make  patterns  which  will  make  castings  like  the 
drawings,  and  he  understands  his  business,  and  attends 
to  it.  He  don't  stand  around  with  sharp  tools  and 
wait  for  instructions  how  to  make  this,  how  to  part 
that,  how  to  dowel  this,  where  to  glue  that,  and  when 
to  put  these  rapping  plates  on,  and  where  to  put  cores, 
and  where  to  draw  in  green  sand,  and  all  such.  That's 
his  business.  Bob's  a  pattern-maker,  and  a  good  one, 
and  I  defy  any  pattern-maker  to  prove  Bob  off  in  any 
points  of  his  trade.  Did  Bob's  father  kick  him  into 
the  pattern-makers'  trade?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  Bob  was 
a  steamboat  carpenter,  and  went  to  pattern-making 
when  past  forty,  I  guess,  because  he  saw  he  was  the 
man  for  the  trade. 

*  *     *     *     Bob  'ls  one  of  these  men  who  don't  like 


226      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

to  see  any  man  come  to  work  in  a  pattern  shop,  who  is 
not  a  <c  regular  pattern-maker." 

*  *  *  *  I  never  w{\\  ]et  Up  on  rqy  admiration 
for  the  rare  pattern-maker  who  can  make  good,  nice, 
everlasting  patterns  when  required  to,  but  who  also 
knows  how  to  nail  a  thing  together  in  ten  minutes,  if 
you  only  want  one  casting  off  the  pattern. 

In  the  small  jobbing  shops  in  scattered  western 
towns,  the  proprietor  is  generally  a  machinist,  and  the 
pattern-maker  is  a  man  with  responsibilities.  If  the 
pattern-maker  is  a  good  man,  the  concern  may  suc- 
ceed, but  if  he  is  a  poor  stick  the  institution  is  bound 
to  fail. 

There  are  no  draughtsmen  around  these  shops,  no 
lordly  engineers  with  square  roots,  and  cube  roots,  and 
logarithms,  and  torsion  equations,  and  density  tables, 
and  all  such. 

The  pattern-maker  is  generally  the  man  called  on 
to  furnish  the  high  art  for  the  establishment. 

The  foundries  connected  with  these  shops  take  off  a 
heat  of  about  eighteen  hundred  pounds  once  or  twice 
a  week,  and  about  nine-tenths  of  the  work  is  cast  from 
patterns  made  for  that  heat,  so  you  will  see  that  this 
pattern-maker — he  almost  always  works  alone — has 
his  hands  full.  Thursday  is  the  casting  day,  and  five 
o'clock  is  the  hour  set  for  the  fan  to  be  put  on.  Tues- 
day night  the  pattern-maker  will  say  he  is  ready,  and 
you  will  find  him  working  on  some  pulley  pattern  he 
has  been  trying  to  add  to  the  set  for  a  year. 

Wednesday  morning  the  proprietor  begins  to  think 
of  things  which  must  be  made  this  heat,  and  repair 
jobs  will  come  in  a  rush,  and  by  noon  on  Wednesday 
our  pattern-maker  will  have  laid  that  everlasting  pul- 
ley pattern  away,  and  will  have  mapped  out  a  lot  of 
patterns  for  the  heat  to-morrow,  which  would  keep  a 
common,  high  toned  shop,  full  of  pattern-makers,  busy 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  227 

for  a  week.  It  don't  seem  to  make  any  difference 
whaj:  comes,  or  how  much  of  it,  bevel  gears,  spur 
gears,  odd  boxes,  thimble  skeins,  sash  weights,  a  face- 
plate, a  cross  head,  a  stop  valve,  a  lamp  post,  a  stove 
grate,  a  dumb  bell,  reaper  cranks,  concaves,  step- 
plates,  couplings,  and  what  not.  He  don't  get  any 
dinner  or  supper,  maybe,  and  the  fan  belt  don't  get 
on  till  six  o'clock;  but  Friday  morning  he  will  get 
down  that  eternal  pulley  pattern  again.  He  has  prob- 
ably put  in  six  weeks'  solid  time  on  that  pulley  pattern 
and  it  isn't  done  yet,  but  he  has  done  some  "  odd  job- 
bing "  in  the  meantime. 

*  *     *     *     We   are   noj.  verv  conservative  in  this 
country,  but  still   there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  device 
being  born  too  soon.     The  people  won't  have  it,  and  a 
wise  manufacturer  sometimes  lets  it  alone.     The  bril- 
liant and  radical  inventor  will  sometimes  find  his  off- 
spring entirely  too  perfect  for  the  time.     Its  very  per- 
fection  of   adaptation    implies,   probably,   a    radical 
departure  from  well-understood  plans,  and,  too  often, 
as  a  consequence,  the  very  perfection  of  adaptation  to 
function  involves  a  perfect  inadaptation  to  common 
surroundings. 

*  *    *     *     jf  there  was  ever  a  short  cut  made  all 
of  a  sudden,  it  was  when  the  direct-acting  steam  pump 
was    invented.     As  far   as   my  knowledge   goes,  Mr. 
Worthington  is  the  real  inventor  of  this  radical  con- 
trivance.   A 

He  found  steam  moving  a  piston  in  a  straight  line; 
he  found  pistons  moving  water  in  a  straight  line.  The 
cause  was  as  he  found  it;  the  result  was  as  he  desired 
it.  But  what  a  world  of  complicated,  intermediate 
machinery  he  found  between  these  simple  terminal 
elements!  He  straightened  the  matter  out,  discarded 
the  entire  intervention,  and  produced  a  machine  which 
consisted  of  a  single  transmitting  piece  of  metal,  mov- 


228      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

ing  in  the  simple  and  identical  lines  of  inevitable  force 
and  required  work. 

*  *     *     *     All  this  was  many  years  ago — in  1840. 
During  the  intervening   years  the  steam   pump  has, 
without  any  real  material  change  in   structure,  found 
its  true  place  in  the  busy  world  and  in  the  appreciation 
of  users,  but  every  day  since  its  birth  has  been  an  up- 
hill struggle  for  recognition,  owing  to  the  simple  fact 
that   the   new   pump   was   not   enough    like   the   old 
pumps. 

*  *     *     *     The  present  value  of  the  steam  pump 
as  distinguished  from   ancient  donkey  pumps  is  too 
great  to  calculate,  but  it  required  fourteen  new  gen- 
erations of  steam  users  to  provide  it  with  any  reason- 
able welcome.     Mr.   Worthington    might  have  saved 
himself  a  world  of  trouble  and  mental  anguish  by  not 
inventing  a  direct-acting  steam  pump  at  all. 

In  later  years,  after  the  struggling  infant  has  forced 
its  way  into  popular  use,  hundreds  of  wise  men  see  a 
good  business  in  steam  pumps. 

I  will  venture  the  opinion  that  if  Mr.  Worthington 
had  it  all  to  do  over  again,  he  would  commence  at  the 
other  end. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL S    LETTERS.  22; 


CHAPTER     XXVII. 

COARSE-GRAINED    FOREMEN. — THE    CHRONIC    MISTAKER. 

THE     BLUNDERER. THE     ANXIOUS     MAN. THE     MAN 

WHO     KNOWS. —  THE     MULLET-HEAD.— CLIQUES     IN     THE 
SHOP. BENCHES    FOR   THE   NORTH    SHOP. 

*  *     *     *     i  really  think  it  a  good  plan  for  work- 
men to  make  shops  too  hot  to  hold    coarse-grained 
foremen.      No   proprietor  in    the  land    ever  changed 
from  a  pirate  to  a  gentleman  without  finding  his  costs 
reduced. 

Tubal  had  a  foreman  who  could  not  possibly  disap- 
prove without  insulting.  He  ought  to  have  known 
better,  because  every  man  should  know  that  friends 
are  desirable,  and  enemies  not.  Still,  this  fellow  could 
not  help  it.  There  was  not  a  man  in  the  shop  in  sym- 
pathy with  him.  Every  man  looked  upon  him  as  a 
man  to  be  shunned  and  thwarted.  He  knew  nothing 
of  what  was  going  on,  and  could  do  no  real  execution. 
The  men  muttered  and  drew  their  pay  and  worked  as 
little  as  possible.  Tubal  found  himself  almost  driven 
from  the  market  by  the  high  cost  of  his  work,  so  he 
kept  dinging  at  the  foreman,  who  told  him  the  men 
were  bad.  Tubal  let  him  go,  and  got  Jimmy  in  his 
place.  Jimmy  went  into  the  shop,  and,  without  dis- 
charging a  man,  cut  down  the  costs  twenty  per  cent., 
by  simply  increasing  the  good  feeling  of  the  men. 

*  *     *     *     It  certainly  does  not  pay  to  work  men 
who  have  to  be  eternally  and  forever  cursed  into  their 
work,  and  it  is  certainly  as  true,  that  it  don't  pay  to 
follow  such  a  course  with  men  who  don't  need  it.    The 
dollar-and-cent  view  will  take  the  big,  big  D,  out  of  the 
shop. 

*  *     *     *     If  a  good  man  does  a  bad  job  or  breaks 
something,  he  is  ashamed  of  himself  and  will  remem- 


330  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S     LETTERS. 

ber.  A  foreman  should  be  smart  enough  to  appreciate 
this  side  of  human  nature  and  act  accordingly.  Let 
him  assume  that  the  man  don't  care,  and  begin  to  blast 
him,  and  the  man  will  never  care  again  as  long  as  he 
works  for  that  foreman. 

*  *  *  *  There  is  a  certain  species  of  machinist 
who  makes  mistakes — always  and  continuously.  His 
ten  feet  four  inches  and  a  quarter  is  an  eighth  short  or 
long.  His  inch  and  a  half  is  in  the  neighborhood  only 
of  an  inch  and  a  half.  He  forgets  the  washer  on  this 
job,  and  don't  cut  the  thread  up  far  enough  on  that 
one.  He  drills  this  hole  too  far  from  the  edge  of  a 
flange,  and  drills  that  tap  hole  the  size  of  the  outside 
of  the  tap,  and  he  never  gets  a  hole  the  right  size  for 
a  tap,  and  he  never  chucks  a  job  true  enough,  and  he 
sets  a  lathe  over,  so  as  to  turn  a  crowning  pulley  very 
much  more  tapering  on  one  side  than  on  the  other  ; 
he  won't  make  a  key  bear  on  the  sides,  and  no  wrench 
will  fit  all  round  on  the  bolt  head  he  files  up  ;  he  taps 
holes  crooked  and  runs  pipe  taps  in  too  deep  ;  he  cuts 
shoulders  up  a  sixteenth  too  far,  and  makes  the  driv- 
ing fit  on  the  wrong  part  of  the  job.  He  is  a  good 
workman,  for  all  these  things  are  nicely  done.  He 
simply  forgets  or  neglects,  or  something  or  other,  and 
is  a  nuisance,  for  you  never  can  depend  on  him.  When 
he  lays  a  job  down,  you  never  can  have  the  assurance 
that  it  is  right  until  you  measure  every  thing  about  it. 
The  work  that  such  a  man  does  costs  lots  of  money, 
because  you  must  provide  a  special  supervision  over 
every  thing  he  does.  Such  a  man  will  turn  a  foreman's 
hair  gray  if  he  lets  him  keep  on.  He  never  will  get 
any  better  as  long  as  he  works  in  the  same  position. 
To  cure  this  man,  reduce  his  pay  and  put  him  at  the 
very  foot  of  the  ladder,  telling  him  to  raise  his  own 
pay  by  learning  to  be  "sure."  No  men  continually 
liable  to  small  mistakes  around  me,  if  you  please. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS  231 

*  *     *     *     Another   species   works  decisively  and 
surely.     When  he  goes  for  a  size,  he  gets  it  as  close 
as  the  case  calls  for.     He  don't   slouch  dimensions. 
You  never  think  of  running  over  his  sizes.     You  know 
they  are  what  you  ordered,  but — once  in   six  months 
this  man  will  make  some  grand  blunder.    He  will  turn 
something  to  eleven  and  a  half  inches  which  should 
be  twelve  and  a  half  inches,  but  that  eleven  and  a  half 
inches  will  be  a  good  and  accurate  size.     He  will  get 
an  engine  four  inches  out  of  line,  but  he  will  never  get 
it  a  sixteenth  out   of   line.      He   will  try  to    raise  a 
smokestack  under  one  of  his  guy  ropes,  but  his  rope 
will  not  be  a  foot  too  short.     He  will  get  things  right 
wrong,  and  fit  up  his  steam  pipe  out  of  one-inch  pipe, 
and  make  his  feed  pipe  out  of  four-inch  pipe.     He  will 
cut  a  wide  rubber  belt  four  feet  too  short,  but  never 
four  inches. 

He  will  get  on  his  two-thread  gears  to  cut  fourteen 
to  the  inch,  but  he  will  never  get  the  fifteen-thread 
gears  on.  He  will  bore  the  taper  hole  in  a  piston 
wrong  end  to,  but  it  will  be  a  good  hole  and  the  right 
size.  He  will  leave  a  monkey  wrench  inside  of  a 
steam  cylinder  when  he  puts  the  head  on,  but  he 
won't  leave  any  small  stuff  in  there.  He  will  do  one 
of  these  outrageous  things  two  or  three  times  a  year, 
and  one  of  these  blunders  never  teaches  him  to  guard 
against  the  next.  Between  blunders,  the  blunderer  is 
invariably  all  right.  You  can  depend  upon  him.  His 
blunders  are  so  obvious  that  they  will  not  pass  into 
misfits.  The  blunderer  never  makes  little  mistakes, 
and  the  chronic  "  mistaker  "  never  reaches  the  dignity 
of  the  blunderer.  Give  me  the  blunderer  every  time. 

*  *     *     *     Another  man  is  awfully  cautious,  care- 
ful and  sure.    It  is  painful  to  watch  him.    He  calipers  a 
fit,  turns  his  work  nearly  to  size,  hesitates,  doubts,  and 
goes    through  the  whole    calipering  process    again, 


232  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

When  done,  he  will  ache  for  a  chance  to  try  his  work 
to  see  how  it  will  fit.  He  measures  everything  twice 
and  then  isn't  sure  about  it.  These  anxious  men  are 
never  sure  of  anything.  The  more  pains  they  take  to 
assure-  themselves,  the  less  sure  they  are.  They  have 
no  confidence  in  themselves.  No  decision,  no  boldness. 
The  thing  grows  on  them,  and  they  grope  their  way 
through  life.  When  this  man  locks  up  his  tool  box  at 
night  he  must  always  go  back  and  put  the  key  in  the 
lock  to  see  whether  he  locked  it  or  not. 

*  *  *  *  Another  kind  of  a  chip  is  the  man  who 
never  becomes  so  preoccupied  with  a  thing  that  he 
doubts  details.  He  is  a  man  of  bold  and  decided 
action.  He  has  self  confidence  enhanced  by  self  con- 
fidence. Watch  him  caliper  a  job.  He  knocks  his  inside 
calipers  with  a  motion  that  means  something.  They 
move  an  inch  blow.  The  last  hard  blow  is  lighter,  but 
decisive.  Then  come  the  gentle  strokes,  soft  and  deli- 
cate, but  effective.  Finally,  he  gets  the  fit,  and  when 
he  does  he  leaves  instanter.  He  has  got  all  he  came 
after.  He  goes  to  his  lathe  and  sets  his  inside  calipers, 
and  when  he  gets  them  right  he  stops  trying  to  see  if 
they  are  right;  he  knows  they  are.  Then  he  tries  the 
job  in  the  lathe.  Good  deal  to  come  off.  He  gives 
the  crank  a  pronounced  turn  and  takes  a  big  cut  over 
the  job.  Does  he  hold  his  calipers  in  his  hand,  and 
think  about  the  fit  in  the  mean  time?  Not  a  bit  of  it. 
He  starts  his  new  cut,  tries  his  calipers,  and  sees  that 
he  has  the  right  size;  lays  the  calipers  down,  and  let's 
her  go.  His  mind  is  now  free.  He  don't  wonder  if 
his  job  is  the  size  of  his  outsides;  he  don't  wonder  if 
his  outsides  are  the  size  of  the  insides;  he  don't  wonder 
if  the  insides  are  the  size  of  the  hole;  he  don't  wonder 
if  the  "feel "  in  the  hole  was  just  about  right;  he  don't 
wonder  about  anything.  He  knows  what  he  has  done. 
He  will  follow  up  his  job  with  his  calipers,  and  keep 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  233 

the  thing  turning  straight,  and,  when  done,  he  will  lay 
the  job  aside,  and  don't  care  a  cent  who  the  first  man 
is  to  try  his  work  together.  He  don't  know  what  relief 
is,  because  he  don't  know  what  anxiety  is.  There  is  no 
luck,  or  ill-luck,  in  the  universe  for  him.  A  man  who 
makes  caliper  fits  with  confidence  holds  the  universe 
in  his  hands,  and  shapes  his  future  with  effective 
strokes.  When  he  raises  a  sledge  hammer,  he  hits 
where  he  intends  to.  He  don't  wonder  where  that 
hammer  is  coming  down. 

*  *  *  *  Another  machinist  is  the  mullet  head. 
You  call  him  a  machinist,  and  he  calls  himself  one, 
because  he  has  worked  at  the  trade  about  fifteen  years. 
He  has  no  skill,  no  pride,  no  taste,*  no  knowledge,  no 
judgment,  no  nothing. 

He  is  too  obtuse  to  reason  with.  He  will  do  what 
you  want  done,  if  you  can  hammer  it  into  his  head 
what  you  want.  If  you  can't  do  that,  you  had  better 
give  him  some  other  job.  He  has  no  pride  to  shame, 
so  there  is  no  use  talkingto  him.  Inert  matter  becomes 
sentient  and  independent  in  this  man's  hands.  You 
may  pick  out  a  three-quarter  drill  for  him,  but,  sure  as 
fate,  it  will  drill  a  thirteen-sixteenths  hole.  He  is 
stupid  and  ignorant,  and  that  is  all  there  is  of  it.  If  you 
set  him  to  turning  a  grindstone,  you  must  fix  a  ratchet 
on  it,  or  it  will  be  as  apt  to  turn  one  way  as  the  other. 

This  is  the  fellow  who  makes  a  swearing  man  of  your 
Sunday-school  superintendent.  Swearing  at  such  a 
man  is  a  waste  of  talent.  It  ruins  the  swearer,  and  has 
no  effect  on  the  swearee.  The  man  is  out  of  place,  and 
has  chosen  the  wrong  trade.  Find  a  job  more  suitable 
for  his  abilities,  such  as  tightening  up  fish  bolts  on  a 
railroad.  You  can  do  nothing  with  such  labor  round  a 
shop.  If  you  pay  him  money  enough  to  just  support 
him  in  his  mean,  unambitious  way,  he  still  cannot  give, 
you  value  received. 


234  EXTRACTS     PROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 


*  *     *     *     Q£  all  the  bad  things  jn  the  shop,  the 
worst  is  the  "  clique."     Workmen,  foremen,  superin- 
tendents,  managers  and    proprietors,  feel    its  baleful 
influence.      There   is   but   one   way    to   circumvent  a 
"  clique,"  and  that  is  to  stamp  out  every  man  compos- 
ing it.     If  you  are  superintendent,  you  owe  it  to  your 
employer  to  see  that  no  lack  of  unity  exists,  so  far  as 
your  position  is  concerned.     Use  your  authority  justly 
and  firmly.     Give  shelter  to  no  vipers,  and  don't  han- 
dle thistles  with  a  tender  hand.     If  there  is  an  influ- 
ence or  an  atmosphere  which  fails  to   co-operate  with 
you  in  your  duty,  which  clogs  every  movement  you 
make,   or  which  submits  sullenly  to  fate,  purify  the 
thing  at  once.    You  fail  in  your  duty  to  your  superiors, 
if  you  permit  the  thing  for    any  reason  whatsoever. 
Put  the  question  fairly,  and  discharge  every  man  who 
hangs  a  lip.     If  one  of  the  members  of  the  "clique  "  is 
your  superior,  state  your  case  to  him  and  draw  your 
pay.     Be  king;  be  a  good  king,  deserve  loyalty,  and 
remove  all  disloyal  influences. 

*  *     *     *     I   am   studying    about    what    kind    of 
benches  to  put  into  the  new  North  shop.     I  am  sick  of 
the  usual  things;  they  are    too   convenient   to  throw 
things  under,  for  one  thing,  and  I  have  about  made  up 
my  mind  to  have  them  wainscotted,  or  sealed  up,  let- 
ting the  bottom  of  the  "  sealing"  drop  back,  say  eight 
inches.     The  benches  gotten  up  by  Brown  &  Sharpe 
are  the  neatest  I  have  ever  seen,  and  look  as  though 
they  had  been  studied  over.     I  am   prejudiced  against 
drawers  in  benches.     Our  men  will  pile  files  in  them, 
and  do  the  files  more  damage  than  their  regular  use. 
Then  they  will  throw  in  chipping  chisels  and  hammers 
and  wrenches   and  squares  and  soap  and    scrap  iron 
and  scrap  brass  and  odd  pipe  fittings  and  sausages  and 
sheet  rubber,  and  I  don't  know  what  all.    I  am  studying 
on  a  wall  cupboard  to  take  the  place  of  the  drawers,  and 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 


235 


if  I  succeed  in  getting  up  anything  to  suit  my  ideas 
of  the  proper  thing,  you  shall  hear  of  it.  While  I  was 
visiting  the  shop  of  Brown  &  Sharpe,  I  mentioned  my 
objections  to  drawers,  and  Mr.  Viall,  the  superintend- 
ent, got  the  keys  from  the  men  and  we  made  the  grand 
rounds.  Yale  locks  to  start  on — think  of  that,  you 
who  use  padlocks! — and  drawers  that  you  could  ac- 
tually draw  right  open  without  any  hammering  or 
fussing.  And  when  those  drawers  were  opened,  they 
looked  as  nice  and  clean  inside  as  any  apprentice's 
tool  box.  Here  a  neat  clean  sliding  tray  for  scales  and 
calipers  and  small  tools  generally;  here  a  division  for 
chisels,  and  here  another  one  for  files.  These  drawers 
didn't  remind  me  of  anything  I  had  ever  seen  in  a 
machine  shop  before,  nor  the  men  at  work  in  the  shop 
didn't  either. 

If  they  would  let  Wycoff  have  those  drawers  about 
a  week,  they  would  not  recognize  them,  and  would 
not  want  them  back  again.  Oh,  if  I  were  only  an 
artist,  wouldn't  I  like  to  send  you  an  interior  view  of 
one  of  Wycoff's  bench  drawers,  just  to  show  some  of 
the  boys  the  difference  between  machinists  and 
machinists!  *  *  *  * 


236          EXTRACTS   FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     XXVIII. 

PROCRASTINATION  IN  SHOPS. — INGRAHAM's  OPENING   DAY, 

MAKING      REPAIRS. SYSTEM      AND     ORGANIZATION. 

SICK     LATHES,      AND     HOW     TO     CURE     THEM. — SHORT- 
WINDED    PLANERS. A    POINT    IN    SACKETT's    SYSTEM. 

*  *     *     *     How  often,  as  we  are  engaged   in  our 
daily  work,  we  find  things  wrong  and   make  up  our 
minds  to  make  this  thing  or  that  thing  right  the  first 
idle  day,  or  when   times  get  dull.     And  how  often  do 
we  correct  things  when  an  idle  day  does  come  ?     Not 
once  !     I  never  was  one  to  believe  in  the  moral  utility 
of  rules  or  texts  in  a  machine   shop,  but  I  believe  a 
shop  would  not  be  a  bad  place  to  hang  up  a  worsted 
motto  bearing  the  golden  words,  '*  Now  is  the  accepted 
time." 

*  *     *     *     The  owner  or  manager  of  a  shop  daily 
finds  some  detail  out  of  gear,  some  big  thing  or  some 
little  thing.     He  thinks  it  ought  to  be  fixed,  but  not 
now — some  other  time  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  it  never 
does  get  fixed  unless  it  happens  to  be  one  of  those 
things  which  comes  to  a  stoppage  some  day  and  has 
to  be  fixed.     Then,  of  course,  it  is  in  a  hurry,  and  gets 
cobbled  instead  of  being  fixed  sure  enough.     Every 
man  around  a  shop,  ordinate  and  subordinate,  expe- 
riences the  same  thing.     Johnny,  a  two  years'  boy  at  a 
lathe,  thinks  it  about  time   to  tear  the  apron  of  his 
lathe  to  pieces  and  oil  it  up  ;  but  not  now,  wait  till 
his  job  is  done,  then  he  will  do  it  before  he  gets  an- 
other job.     Not  much,  Johnny.     You  will  never    fix 
that  apron  till  it- sticks  and  can't  be  worked,  and  then 
you  will  have  to  do  it  just  when  you  don't  want  to, 
and  when  your  judgment  tells  you  the  time  can  least 
be  spared. 

The  foreman  thinks  the  drill  sockets  are  getting  in 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  237 

bad  shape.  They  ought  to  be  overhauled,  but  not 
now.  When  ?  When  work  becomes  extra  rushed  and 
these  same  sockets  get  on  a  strike  all  at  once  ;  then  is 
the  time  you  will  do  it,  and  then  is  the  time  you  will 
be  too  much  rushed  to  half  do  it. 

The  superintendent  thinks  he  will  put  a  new  fore- 
man in  the  foundry,  for  he  has  found  that  a  slight 
rush  of  work  throws  his  present  man  off  his  balance, 
and  reduces  his  capacity  just  when  it  should  be  en- 
hanced. He  is  a  nice  man,  and  a  good  foreman  within 
his  small  and  inelastic  field,  but  we  are  liable  to  emer- 
gencies, and  this  man  must  go.  Not  now,  of  course, 
but — when  ?  When  the  emergency  comes,  and  the 
foundry  is  driven,  and  the  old  man  won't  do,  then  the 
new  man  must  come  and  enter  upon  new  duties  under 
the  most  unfavorable  circumstances. 

The  stockholders  say,  "  We  must  absorb  the  Toggle 
Works  ;  they  want  to  sell  and  we  must  soon  find  some- 
thing to  take  the  place  of  Harding's  orders  which  are 
to  leave  us."  But  not  now.  Oh,  no  !  We  must  wait 
till  Harding  has  been  gone  a  month  and  things  look 
thin,  and  the  Toggle  Works,  with  eyes  as  good  as 
ours,  know  how  essential  it  is  that  we  buy  their  busi- 
ness at  their  price. 

*  *  *  *  It  has  been  my  fortune  to  be  a  hand  on 
the  opening  day  in  several  little  shops,  and  right  here 
my  mind  goes  back  to  Ingraham's,  and  I  must  tell  a 
story.  Ingraham  started  a  little  shop  away  off  out  of 
the  world.  The  inhabitants  had  never  seen  melted 
iron,  or  much  of  anything  else,  and  he  had  things 
arranged  to  make  his  first  heat  an  occasion  of  import- 
ance in  the  town.  Grand  announcement — flourish  of 
trumpets — circulars  of  invitation  to  the  best  folks  in 
town — lemonade — brass  band — ice  cream — raised  seats 
for  the  ladies,  and  all  such.  The  day  came,  so  did 
the  people.  The  fire  had  been  lighted  and  the  cupola 


238  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S   LETTERS. 

charged.    Ingraham  superintended,  and  explained,  and 
smiled  acknowledgments  of  many  congratulations. 

But  the  iron  wouldn't  come  down,  and  never  did 
come  down  till  the  bottom  was  knocked  out.  Ingra- 
ham was  a  bachelor  and  could  be  confused  sometimes, 
which  may  account  for  the  iron  being  under  the  fuel. 

*  *     *     *     But,  aside  from  music  and  ice  cream,  I 
remember  that  shops  within  my  experience  were  al- 
ways started  with  the  intention  of  fixing  things  better 
after  the  thing  got  moving,  and  I  never  saw  anything 
fixed  till  a  radical  change  became  imperative.    A  lathe 
is  speeded  too  fast.     The  proper  pulley  had  not  come, 
and  the  main  shaft  was  ready  to  go  up,  so  a  larger 
pulley  was  put  on  to  drive  the  lathe.     Was  the  right 
pulley  put  on  when  it  did  come  ?     Not  much.    It  went 
into  stock,  and  in  two  years  some  lathesman  insisted 
on  having  that  pulley  changed,  if  he  was  to  run  the 
lathe  and  do  lots  of  work. 

Thick  stuff  gives  out,  and  two-and-a-half  inch  stuff 
is  used  for  a  couple  of  vise  benches — temporarily,  of 
course,  but  they  danced  tools  and  work  off  for  years, 
till  Dennis  himself  happened  to  use  one  of  the  vises, 
and  found  out  what  the  boys  had  to  put  up  with. 

There  must  be  a  foundation  under  that  planer,  of 
course ;  anybody  would  know  that,  but  we  can  start  it 
up,  you  know,  and  fix  the  foundations  when  the  ma- 
sons are  here  again.  Yes,  I  know.  Masons  come  and 
masons  go,  but  that  planer  goes  on  for  ever. 

*  *     *     *     TI^  oniy  time  to  do  things  is  when  the 
consciousness  that  they  are  necessary  arrives.     When 
we  have  nothing  else' to  do,  we  don't  want  to  do  things. 
That's   human  nature    set  to   music  in    the  Arkansas 
Traveler,  and  brought  to  mind  each  day  in   the  shop. 
An  excellent  rule  is,  to  do  things  right,  and  stop  when 
they  are  done  right,  and   the  rule  is  justified  by  the 
simple  fact  that  it  is  almost  always  cheaper. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.      24! 

*  *     *     *     I  have  set  up  many  engines,  cutting  and 
fitting  every  pipe,  and  I,  at  one  time,  was  the  worst 
slouch  that  ever  did  such  work.     My  ambition  seemed 
to  be  to  get  lines  of  pipe  in  position  and  get  things 
started.    If  I  had  doubts  of  a  pipe  joint  I  would  say  to 
myself,  "I  guess  that  will  do;  if  it  won't,  I  will  fix  it." 
Soon  every  joint  was   made  on  the  same   plan.     Of 
course,  the  doubt  was  only  settled  when   steam  was 
let  on,  and  then  the  thing  got  "  started  "  under  a  cloud 
of  steam  which  would  even  prevent  inspection.     Then 
the  whole  thing  had  to  be  gone  over.     Common  sense 
overtook  me  one  day,  and  I  changed   my  tactics,  and 
settled  all  doubts  about  pipe  joints  when  I  made  the 
joints.     I  saved  time,  money  and  good  nature  by  the 
conversion. 

*  *     *     *     if  repairs  are  to   be  made,  I   think   it 
cheaper  to  make  them  at  once,  even  in  a  rush  of  busi- 
ness, than  to  await  an  idle  day  which  we  hope  will 
never  come.     If  a  shop  starts  with  loose  joints,  prema- 
ture or  temporary  arrangements,  or  lack  of  system,  it 
will  run  so  till  a  new  shop  is  built. 

Few  men  have  the  foresight  or  money  to  provide  for 
everything,  but  the  omissions  referred  to  are  seldom 
dictated  by  economy  or  ignorance. 

*  *     *     *     It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  a  millwright 
will  stay  on  one  job  as  long  as  there  are  any  induce- 
ments— social,  political,  financial,  geographical,  relig- 
ious or  otherwise— to  do  so.     He  only  quits  to  go  on 
a  better  job.     This  is  a  long  and   expensive  way  to 
reach  good  results,  but  we  seldom  find  in  a  mill  any 
temporary    or    shiftless    executions    of   the    original 
plan. 

*  *     *     *     Tell  a  hap-hazard  manager  of  system 
and  organization,  and  you  make  him  sick.     He  thinks 
you  lay  out  more  work  for  him  than  is  involved  in  the 
regular  business  which  your  system  is  simply  an  ad- 


242  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

junct  of.  The  fact  is,  you  tell  him  too  many  novel 
things  at  once,  and  he  thinks  all  hands  must  quit  real 
work  and  devote  themselves  to  keeping  your  red  tape 
chalk  line  straight. 

Not  so.  System  is  not  work,  but  is  simply  a  law  of 
action  for  reducing  work.  It  does  not  require  special 
executors,  but  permits  few  to  accomplish  much.  It 
loads  no  man  with  labor,  but  lightens  the  labor  of  each 
by  rigidly  defining  it.  Hard  work  begins  when  system 
relaxes.  System  never,  under  any  circumstances,  in- 
terferes with  variations  in  human  action,  but  includes 
them.  Elasticity  is  not  a  quality  of  system.  Compre- 
hensiveness is.  System  is  the  result  of  two  rigid  laws  : 
a  place  for  everything  and  everything  in  its  place,  and 
specific  lines  of  duty  for  every  man.  The  laws  being 
written,  understood  and  executed,  lighten  the  respon- 
sibility of  every  man.  In  many  shops  half  the  things 
are  everybody's  business  and  never  done  ;  the  others 
are  nobody's  business  and  half  done. 

Law  without  execution  is  no  law,  and  in  the  shop 
we  find  empty  law  adds-to  illegal  work. 

Many  shops  let  their  system  drop  during  the  hard 
times,  and  when  things  are  picking  up  they  wonder 
why  their  capacity  is  so  limited.  I  know  one  excellent 
shop  which  had  a  tip-top  pattern  system,  in  which 
there  was  a  fixed  responsibility  for  everything,  and  no 
dependence  placed  on  the  memory  of  any  man.  A 
stranger  could  enter  the  place  and  receive  five  min- 
utes' instruction  which  would  ena.ble  him  to  find  any 
pattern  of  any  piece  of  three  hundred  machines. 
Those  instructions  would  be  :  "  Each  machine  has  a 
short  symbol  as  shown  on  its  drawings,  and  every 
piece  has  a  number  also  shown.  Each  pattern  or  piece 
or  scrap  is  stamped  with  the  symbol  and  number. 
The  pattern  storeroom  contains  all  patterns  not  in  use 
or  being  repaired,  and  shelves  are  symbolized  to  cor- 


EXTRACTS    FROM     CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  243 

respond  with  their  symbols.     The  pattern  storeroom 
has  a  sign  on  the  door." 

With  such  instructions,  a  stranger  could  be  given 
any  drawing  and  asked  for  a  piece  shown  thereon. 
He  could  bring  it  in  ten  minutes,  even  if  totally  unac- 
quainted with  the  premises,  providing  the  piece  was  at 
home.  If  he  didn't  find  the  pattern,  he  would  find  a 
slate  telling  him  to  call  at  foundry,  or  pattern  shop,  or 
at  some  malleable  foundry  a  hundred  miles  away.  A 
simple  arrangement  this,  and  it  did  not  cost  ten  cents 
a  year,  and  saved  many  dollars. 

As  simple  and  satisfactory  plans  pervaded  foundry, 
machine  shop,  blacksmith  shop,  wood  shop,  boiler 
shop,  storeroom,  wareroom  and  office,  and  more  work 
was  done  by  less  men  with  less  hard  work  than  one 
often  sees. 

*  *  *  *  gut  the  man  w}10  organized  this  thing 
was  wanted  elsewhere,  and  went.  He  had  been  gone 
five  years,  and  has  organized  another  concern  which 
has,  within  the  last  few  weeks,  had  to  buy  a  railroad 
to  use  up  its  earnings. 

A  few  days  ago  I  visited  the  first  concern,  and  found 
that  the  organizer  had  carried  away  the  statute  books, 
and  the  system  had  gone  to  the  bow-wows.  There 
were  patterns  in  the  pattern  room,  in  place  and  out  of 
place,  with  marks  and  without  marks.  There  were 
patterns  stored  in  the  pattern  shop,  in  the  drawing 
room,  in  the  drawing  vault,  in  the  storeroom,  and  I 
don't  know  but  elsewhere,  and  there  were  castings 
stored  in  the  foundry,  and  casting  room,  and  machine 
shop,  and  wareroom.  There  is  no  one  man  about  the 
place  who  could  find  a  piece  of  pattern  or  casting  with- 
out a  scientific  search  over  the  whole  place,  or  an 
inquiry  as  to  its  whereabouts.  The  short  cut,  of  course, 
would  be  to  ask  some  one  supposed  to  know,  who 
would  tell  you,  or  send  you  to  some  one  else  who 


244      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

might  know  where  the  particular  piece  was.  If  some 
subordinate  would  get  sick,  the  shop  would  kill  him 
with  business  messages. 

*  *     *     *     pew  men    can   organize,    and    they  do 
wrong  if  they  fail  to  leave  the  law  behind  them.     In 
the  above  case,  the  owners  could  say  to  a  new  execu- 
tive officer,  "  Take  this  and  maintain  it."     As  it  was, 
"  this "  had  gone  with  its  maker.     I    never  heard    of 
anything  great    being   accomplished    in    productive, 
legal,  military,  naval  or  social  art  without  organiza- 
tion, and  I  never  knew  organization  to  fail  to  result  in 
economy.     Of  the  detail  of  the  law,  and  of  examples 
of  organization  in  shops  in  this  country,  I  may  write 
you  hereafter. 

*  *     *     *     Printed  rules    stuck  up  in   a  shop   are 
objectionable  and  hurtful,  because,  instead  of  defining 
a  man's  duties,  they  dictate  his  conduct. 

Monarchies  exist  on  the  ability  of  the  educated  few 
to  dictate  and  enforce  good  conduct  among  the  igno- 
rant masses.  Republics  look  to  the  self-dictated  good 
conduct  of  the  masses.  Specific  rules  imply  license 
beyond,  and,  as  a  consequence,  monarchies  don't  dare 
to  run  a  bell-rope  through  a  railway  train,  or  leave 
rules  of  conduct  out  of  the  shop. 

If  you  want  to  elevate  the  morals  of  your  shop  and 
of  republican  citizens,  cut  the  conduct  clauses  from 
your  duty  regulations,  and  kick  every  man  out  who 
has  not  sense  enough  to  "  conduct  "  himself.  *  *  *  * 

If  an  unfortunate  mortal  finds  his  shop  full  of  con- 
sumptive lathes,  he  immediately  sets  about  remedying 
the  matter,  that  is,  if  he  has  any  competition  in  his 
business.  Intelligent  labor  will  double  the  product  of 
a  lathe,  but  such  skill  can  work  the  same  changes  in  a 
lathe  having  proper  power,  so  something  must  be  done 
with  the  machine  itself.  If  the  lathe  is  stiff  enough  to 
stand  the  racket,  its  power  may  be  increased  with  very 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  245 

little  trouble  and  with  no  expense.  Inquiry  will  show 
that  the  fault  is  in  the  beltage  of  the  cone.  The  pro- 
portion between  belt  velocity  and  cutting  velocity  is 
wrong.  If  the  lathe  is  run  slowly  enough,  there  will 
appear  to  be  power  enough  for  the  cut.  This  results 
from  the  increased  velocity  of  the  belt,  but  behold — 
the  cut  is  too  slow  !  It  is  known  that  the  cutting  tool 
will  bear  a  velocity  of  twenty  feet  per  minute,  and 
here  we  have  but,  say,  twelve,  which  means  that  forty 
per  cent,  of  the  lathesman's  wages  is  wasted,  and  would 
be  well  invested  in  a  better  lathe.  If,  in  this  case,  the 
speed  of  the  countershaft  be  increased  sixty  per  cent., 
the  lathe  will  be  found  to  have  sufficient  power  at  the 
proper  speed,  but  it  will  also  be  found  that  the  lathe 
will  not  do  business  at  all  satisfactorily  upon  its  full 
swing  or  upon  large  diameters.  This  is  bad,  but  is  the 
best  that  can  be  done  with  such  a  lathe,  for,  owing  to 
wrong  design  in  the  back  gearing,  the  belt  is  incapable, 
under  any  circumstances,  of  doing  the  proper  amount 
of  work  upon  large  diameters.  The  change  in 
speed  of  countershaft  costs  only  a  change  in  line  shaft 
pulleys,  and  makes  what  power  the  belt  may  have 
available  for  work,  and  within  the  new  limits  of  swing, 
the  lathe  will  yield  an  increase  of  product  in  a  year, 
which  will  buy  a  new  lathe  and  allow  the  old  one  to  be 
strained  through  the  cupola.  As  such  cases  are  apt  to 
occur  in  every  shop,  it  might  be  well  to  give  a  math- 
ematical rule  here  for  changing  the  speed  of  the  counter 
shaft,  but  experience  tells  me  that  formulas  are  terri- 
fying in  most  shops — that  is,  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
shops  in  the  country.  A  trial  based  on  a  hint  is  better 
in  many  cases.  It  might  be  well  to  say,  however,  that 
the  point  of  least  power  in  all  lathes,  of  whatever  make, 
is  when  the  belt  is  on  the  largest  step  of  the  lower  cone. 
Lathes  doing  general  shop  work  should  be  capable  of 
work  at  the  point  of  the  tool,  amounting  to  not  less 


246  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS.  . 

than  thirty-five  thousand  foot  pounds,  and  when  the 
belt  is  on  the  large  step  below,  it  should  be  capable  of 
transmitting  somewhere  near  that  amount  of  power. 

The  strain  of  a  lathe  belt  will  average  forty-five 
pounds  for  each  inch  in  width.  The  width  of  the  belt 
in  inches,  multiplied  by  forty-five,  gives  its  strain,  and 
35,000  divided  by  this  strain  gives  the  least  velocity 
in  feet  per  minute  at  which  the  belt  should  run,  and 
also  the  surface  velocity  at  which  the  small  step  of  the 
upper  cone  should  run.  Its  proper  speed  can  then  be 
found  without  trouble. 

*  *  *  *  After  the  belt,  the  weak  point  in  ill-con- 
structed lathes  is  in  the  teeth  upon  the  cone  pinion,  if 
this  pinion  is  of  cast  iron,  as  is  the  case  on  cheap 
lathes,  and  in  the  teeth  of  the  back  gear  wheel.  The 
final  or  front  gearing  of  lathes  is  rarely  found  too 
weak  for  their  usual  work.  Once  in  a  while  a  lathe 
can  be  found  with  a  "lump  "  in  its  speeds,  that  is,  it 
runs  faster  with  the  back  gear  in,  than  it  did  with  the 
back  gear  out  and  the  belt  on  the  large  step  below. 
Many  a  man  will  run  such  a  lathe  a  month  before  find- 
ing this  fault,  and  will  gravely  change  his  belt  to  suit 
changes  in  size  of  work  without  noticing  the  effect. 
It's  much  like  the  man  who  wound  his  clock  every 
night  for  fourteen  years,  before  he  found  out  that  it 
was  an  eight  day  clock.  In  lathes  of  the  triple-geared 
persuasion  one  may  frequently  find  two  of  the  afore- 
said lumps  in  the  speeds.  Errors  like  these  cost  the 
shop  owner  money  continually,  and  it  is  well  for  him 
that  they  are  getting  rare.  Well-intending  and  well- 
established  tool  builders  are  not  guilty  of  sending  out 
such  machines,  the  errors  generally  lying  with  those 
builders  who  copy  other  makers'  tools  and  recklessly 
add  some  inspiration  of  their  own,  without  re-calcu- 
lating the  whole  thing  ;  such,  for  instance,  as  adding  a 
step  to  a  properly  designed  cone,  or  changing  the 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S     LETTERS.  247 

proportion  in  one  pair  of  the  back  wheels.  The  speeds 
of  a  good  lathe  will  increase  in  a  geometrical -ratio, 
giving  the  smallest  variations  for  the  largest  work,  and 
the  power  will  be  sufficient  to  tax  a  turning  tool  to  its 
utmost. 

*  *     *     *     Short   windedness   in    a   planer    is    as 
common  as  it  is  in  small  lathes.     One  seldom  finds  a 
large  planer  refusing  its  duty,  but  five  out  of  ten  small 
ones  will  positively  refuse  to  carry  a  key  seat  tool  three- 
eighths  wide,  with  a  thirty-second  depth  of  cut.  This 
chronic  disability  in  planers  is  really  more  annoying 
than  in  the  case  of  lathes,  for  there  are  generally  fewer 
planers  in  the  shop  to  appeal  to  in  cases  of  emergency. 
If  a  small  lathe  will  not  hold   a  cut,  we  may  put  the 
job  in  a  larger  lathe,  but  in  many  shops  there  are  no 
larger  planers. 

*  *     *     *     Talking  about  system,  Sackett,  one  day, 
explained   to  me  that  he  put  work  into  a  man's  hands 
and  got  it  done.      His  foreman   never  need  concern 
himself  about  the  matter.     He  himself,  of  course,  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  man;  the  foreman  was  his  boss; 
but  the  man  had   a  duty  which   it  was  expected  he 
would  do  without  either  prompting  or  officiousness. 

*  *     *     *     When  I  commenced  this  letter  I  intended 
to  tell  you  something  of  Sackett's  plan,  but   I  have 
wandered  off.     Some  other  day  will  do,  and  then  I 
may  tell  you  that  when  there  is  something  to  receive 
in  Sackett's  shop,  there  is  a  person  to  receive  it,  and 
when  there  is  something  to  ship,  it  is  somebody's  easy 
duty  to  ship  it,  and  when  there  is  something  to  order, 
there  is  somebody  to  order  it.     A  thing  is  not  delayed 
on  account  of  some  factotum  being  harassed  with  a 
thousand  duties,  undefined  but  still  accepted,  and  there 
is  no  vast  army  of  loafers  with  a  single  duty. 

Sackett's  place  is  run  with  less  men  than  any  similar 
shop  I  ever  saw?  ancl  each  man  has  work  enough  to 


248 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 


keep  him  employed  without  harassing  him.  No  man 
complains  of  excessive  burdens.  One  can  work  for 
Sackett  in  the  daytime  and  sleep  o'  nights.  If  any  man 
lays  off  to  fish,  or  lies  down  to  die,  another  man  knows 
his  work  and  no  interruption  ensues.  I  have  known  of 
patterns  being  made  in  a  shop  the  second  time,  because 
some  man  who  carried  the  whole  shop  in  his  head  had 
gone  into  the  army. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  249 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

PAINT  ON  MACHINERY. FUNCTIONAL  MACHINES. SHAFT- 
ING   AND    HANGERS. A    NEW    WRINKLE  IN  SHAFTING. — 

A    NEW    TOOL    WANTED. 

*  *  *  *  I  am  studying  up  on  the  subject  of  paint, 
as  it  relates  to  machinery.  We  can  all  remember  when 
all  machinery  had  to  be  painted  a  grass  green,  and 
decorated,  maybe,  with  stripes  of  more  or  less  contrast- 
ing hues.  The  age  of  green  paint  was  also  the  age  of 
ornate  curves  and  general  elaborate  design.  Certain 
prominent  machine  builders  commenced  designing 
their  machines  on  what  I  call  the  functional  plan,  that 
is  :  each  element  was  treated  as  regarded  its  duty  only; 
the  form  was  such  as  was  dictated  by  its  functions  only  ; 
lines  of  strength  were  placed  in  the  lines  of  strain  ; 
and  under  no  circumstances  was  a  pleasing  shape 
sought  after,  save  such  as  resulted  from  an  apparent 
adaptation  of  parts  to  their  work,  or  what  might  be 
termed  the  harmony  of  utility.  Utilitarianism  in 
machine  design  ran  so  far,  that  simple  machinery 
began  to  look  complicated.  Instead  of  soft  blending 
lines,  rigid  protuberances  became  the  order  of  the  day, 
a  thickness  of  metal  having  been  determined  upon, 
this  thickness  was  maintained,  and  the  exterior  of  a 
casting  presented  every  little  projection  and  compli- 
cated sinuosity  which  characterized  the  interior. 
Bosses  were  sharply  developed,  flanges  stood  out 
severely,  and  reinforcements  were  placed  in  plain  view. 
The  Whitworth  machines  are  a  fair  sample  of  this  class. 
American  builders  have  followed,  as  far  as  they  dared, 
but  none  would  carry  the  idea  out  entirely.  Philadel- 
phia builders  would  design  an  engine  lathe  with  every 
important  part  shaped  to  meet  the  essential  require- 
ments of  function ;  they  would  abuse  the  privilege  they 


250  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

had  of  making  a  thing  ugly,  but  when  they  came  to 
the  legs  of  the  lathe,  they  attempted  to  gather  in  the 
very  sunlight  of  lighthearted  beauty  in  design.  A 
cultivated  pedal  taste  is  not  to  be  violated  even  by  a 
Philadelphian  follower  of  Whitworth.  Such  designers 
left  off  all  attempts  at  exterior  neatness,  because  it  was 
not  essential  to  utility,  and  they  left  the  striping  off  the 
green  paint  for  the  same  reason. 

Then  came  that  happy  thought,  steel-colored  paint, 
so  called,  because  it  had  the  color  of  raw  steel.  This 
color,  on  account  of  its  light  shade,  developed  shadows 
in  all  details,  and  brought  every  line  into  plain  view. 
It  unearthed  errors  in  the  surface  of  castings,  and 
developed  a  higher  grade  of  foundry  skill,  and,  coin- 
cidently,  brought  to  our  notice  the  value  of  ''filler." 
•  *  *  *  *  Machines  designed  upon  the  functional 
plan  meet  the  approval  of  all  cultivated  mechanics, 
men  who  have  a  discriminating  judgment,  and  are 
capable  of  appreciating  the  rare  beauties  of  purely 
functional  adaptation.  The  machine  builder  who  seeks 
his  customers  among  such  men  will  find  peculiar  satis- 
faction in  his  commercial  success,  and  will  receive  the 
gratifying  applause  of  his  peers! 

*  *  *  *  The  thoughtless  have  been  led  to  think 
that  this  severe  and  rigid  construction  is  essentially 
cheap,  because  it  looks  cheap.  The  fact  is  that  machin- 
ery designed  on  this  plan  is  essentially  expensive,  and 
can  never,  under  any  conditions,  compete  in  price  with 
machines  equally  well  constructed,  but  designed  on  the 
old  composite  plan. 

The  thoughtless  adopt  the  functional  plan,  and  design 
their  machines  accordingly;  they  leave  off  the  painted 
stripes ;  they  leave  off  the  features  they  have  been 
using  solely  for  looks  ;  they  leave  off  the  green  paint, 
and  attempt  to  get  steel  color,  but  find  it  has  degen- 
erated into  a  hideous,  colorless  blue;  they  send  these 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  25! 

machines  among  an  uncultivated  class  of  patrons  and 
— lose  their  trade. 

*  *  *  *  The  average  machine  purchaser  of  the 
day  is  not  a  discriminating  mechanic.  He  simply  has 
need  of  a  certain  machine.  He  applies  to  Brown  by 
letter,  and  places  his  order  for  a  steam  pump,  perhaps. 
Brown  used  to  finish  his  work  nicely  and  well,  and  used 
to  paint  neatly  and  tastily.  But  he  has  got  the  fever, 
and  gone  into  the  function  business  without  thinking 
who  his  customers  are.  He  leaves  off  his  nice  finish, 
because  he  says  it  does  not  add  to  the  utility  of  his 
steam  pump.  He  leaves  off  his  tasty  painting,  because 
it  does  not  add  to  the  utility  of  his  steam  pump.  He 
leaves  off  the  modulating  lines,  which,  in  having  the 
same  strength,  involved  a  little  more  metal,  because 
they  did  not  add  to  the  utility  of  his  steam  pump.  I 
don't  understand  why  he  don't  leave  off  the  fraudulent, 
steel-colored  paint,  and  let  it  go  unpainted,  for  paint 
does  not  add  a  particle  to  the  utility  of  his  steam 
pump.  The  surfaces  will  rust  and  look  bad,  but  the 
surfaces  are  not  moving  surfaces,  and  good  looks  will 
not  add  to  the  utility,  etc.  But  one  thing  he  soon  finds 
out.  Good  looks  add  to  the  utility  of  the  steam-pump 
business.  Machine  buyers  are  not  foolish  enough  to 
"think  the  less  of  a  jewel,  because  the  casket  which 
contains  it  is  a  beautiful  one;"  in  fact,  by  the  direction 
of  their  purchases,  they  show  that  they  are  foolish 
enough  to  prefer  the  beauty  of  appearance,  even  at 
some  sacrifice  of  utility.  Now  Brown,  as  a  builder  of 
steam  pumps,  knows  that  it  is  a  ticklish  business.  He 
knows  that  each  steam-pump  builder  retains  his  cus- 
tomers by  a  very  delicate  tenure,  and  that  they  are 
prone  to  run  after  strange  gods.  He  sends  his  ugly, 
functional  steam  pump  to  Smith,  the  purchaser.  Smith 
is  no  cultivated  mechanic,  and  knows  nothing  of 
pumps,  steam  or  otherwise,  but  he  knows  a  nice 


252      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 

machine  when  he  sees  it,  as  every  body  does,  you  know; 
and  when  this  pump  reaches  him  he  don't  see  one. 
He  is  not  favorably  impressed.  The  pump  may  do. 
That  is  the  highest  compliment  he  can  pay  it.  Virtue 
in  machinery,  to  be  apparent  to  Smith,  must  be  upon 
the  outer  surface.  If  this  steam  pump  wins  its  way  to 
Smith's  favor  it  must  be  a  good  one,  indeed,  for  it 
works  against  prejudice.  If  Smith  had  received  an 
elegant  machine,  something  made  to  please  as  well  as 
to  do,  he  would  on  its  arrival  unhesitatingly  have  taken 
the  thing  to  his  bosom,  and  have  said  to  friends:  This 
is  a  good  machine.  In  that  case,  the  pump  must  be  a 
poor  one,  indeed,  to  fail,  for  it  has  a  friend  by  its  side, 
one  who  has  committed  himself  in  its  favor,  and  who 
will  not  eat  his  words,  if  he  can  make  them  come  true. 
*  *  *  *  As  a  user,  I  would  prefer  machines 
designed  on  the  functional  plan.  As  a  spectator,  I 
would  prefer  to  see  them;  as  a  builder,  I  would  prefer 
to  build  them;  as  a  seller,  I  would  prefer  to  sell  them. 
But  as  a  builder  of  machines  for  others'  use,  I 
would  prefer  beauty  enough  to  guard  against  neglect; 
as  a  seller  whose  business  must  leave  out  sentiment,  I 
would  have  to  sell  machines,  which  would  help  to  place 
themselves  in  the  good  graces  of  the  average  unculti- 
vated buyer.  Questions:  Does  a  beauty  of  appearance, 
produced  by  what  the  world  knows  as  paint,  necessarily 
destroy  or  detract  from  the  functional  utility  of  a 
machine  ?  Does  the  first  impression  which  a  purchaser 
forms  of  a  machine  add  to  or  detract  from  the  future 
opinion  of  the  machine?  Is  the  average  machine 
buyer  a  cultivated  mechanic,  who  can  see  merit,  even 
through  steel-colored  paint,  or  is  he  a  man  who  has 
the  terms  "nice"  and  "good"  mixed  in  his  mind? 
Because  I  paint  my  work  with  a  view  to  please  the 
average  buyer,  does  it  follow  that  the  workmanship  or 
the  design  of  forms  is .  less  correct  ?  If  I  turn  out 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  253 

machines  known  by  myself  to  be  correct,  how  many 
long  years  of  missionary  labor  must  be  expended  in 
bringing  my  customers  to  that  view  of  things  ?  Won't 
a  little  exterior  ornamentation  help  to  place  my  really 
meritorious  machines  ?  Is  not  the  paint  cheaper  than 
the  missionary  labor  ?  If  the  real  merit  of  design  and 
workmanship  goes  with  the  paint,  am  I  not  doing  as 
correct  a  thing  as  if  I  left  the  paint  off?  If  I  leave 
the  paint  off,  and  act  as  missionary,  don't  those  who 
do  paint,  with  or  without  merit  under  the  paint,  out- 
sell me  ?  And  when  my  missionary  labors  are  com- 
pleted, don't  my  rivals  step  in  and  enjoy  the  fruits 
without  the  labor  ?  Don't  proper  painting  tend  to 
cause  the  eye  to  wander  all  over  a  machine,  and  don't 
dead  painting,  steel  color  for  instance,  cause  the  eye 
to  take  in  details  separately  ?  For  that  reason,  don't 
I  need  to  put  a  higher  finish  on  details?  Does  this 
higher  finish  on-detailsadd  any  more  to  the  utility  than 
paint  on  the  general  surface  ?  Isn't  this  extra  finish  of 
details  more  expensive  than  the  extra  painting  of  the 
whole  ?  What  is  the  special  virtue  of  steel-colored 
paint  ?  Is  steel-colored  paint  any  longer  steel-colored  ? 
Because  one  man  has  a  well-established  trade  among 
cultivated  mechanics,  is  it  any  reason  why  I,  who  sell 
to  the  aborigines,  should  build  steel-colored,  functional 
machines  ?  My  machinery  being  properly  designed 
and  constructed,  and  made  for  an  uncultivated  market — 
should  I  paint  such  machinery  with  a  view  to  a  pleasing 
effect  in  such  market  ? 

*  *  *  *  Some  years  ago — a  good  many,  happily 
— if  a  man  happened  to  have  a  line  shaft,  and  found 
that  his  steam  gauge  must  show  twenty  pounds  be- 
fore he  could  revolve  the  shaft,  he  thought  little  of  it. 
When  he  put  up  the  building,  he  put  up  the  clumsy 
shaft  with  its  common  boxes  bolted  squarely  up  against 
posts.  The  shaft  was  put  up  in  line,  and  if  it  staid 


254  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL S    LETTERS. 

so,  well  and  good,  and  if  it  didn't  stay  so,  well 
and  good.  But  in  course  of  time,  people  began  to 
reduce  the  diameters  of  shafts  and  to  increase  their 
velocities,  and  in  course  of  time  it  got  so  a  man  could 
revolve  a  long  line  shaft  by  hand,  and  finally  the  art 
improved  to  that  state  which  requires  a  shaft  in  such 
nice  shape  that  the  merest  trifle  of  force  will  turn  it. 
Such  a  result  is  attained  by  making  the  shaft  round, 
and  straight,  and  small  ;  by  making  pulleys  light  and 
in  balance;  and  by  making  bearings  in  good  style  and 
in  perfect  line.  It  is  immaterial  what  the  form  of  the 
bearing  is,  so  long  as  its  wearing  surface  is  in  proper 
shape,  and  its  bore  in  line  with  its  neighbors.  Expe- 
rience with  shafting  developed  the  fact  that  it  was  easy 
to  make  a  good  box,  but  very  difficult  to  get  it  into 
line,  if  of  ordinary  bolted  box  form,  and  that  settling 
floors,  etc.,  would  soon  disarrange  all  the  fine  adjust- 
ments. The  first  step  towards  a  nice  device  was  to 
arrange  the  boxes  in  a  holder,  so  that  the  proper  ad- 
justment could  be  made  by  set  screws.  This  rendered 
erection  an  easy  matter,  and  allowed  the  boxes  to  be 
brought  into  general  line,  but  it  failed  to  provide  for 
bringing  every  part  of  every  box  into  collimation. 
That  is,  a  true  line  might  cut  the  axis  of  every  box  at 
some  point  of  the  box's  length,  but  there  was  nothing 
to  prevent  the  axis  of  each  box  assuming  independent 
angles.  The  adjustment  provided  consisted  of  vertical 
and  horizontal  movements  by  screws,  and  the  fault 
above  referred  to  was  obviated  by  designing  the  box 
in  gimbal  form,  so  that  each  box  was  universally  self- 
adjusting,  so  far  as  its  individual  axis  was  concerned. 
Such  boxes  or  hangers  could  be  put  up  in  a  position 
of  approximate  accuracy,  and  then  brought  into  line 
by  means  of  the  vertical  and  horizontal  adjusting 
screws,  great  care  being  taken  to  deal  with  the  axis  of 
the  box  at  the  center  of  its  length,  or  point  of  gimbal- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  255 

ling  action.  That  being  done,  the  balance  of  the  box's 
length  would  attend  to  itself. 

Such  hangers  have  never  been  improved  upon,  and 
probably  never  will  be.  They  contain  erective  and 
corrective  adjustments  and  self-adjusting  features,  as 
far  as  attainable.  But,  along  with  the  universal  hanger, 
has  come  the  idea  that  they  are  self-adjusting  and  may 
be  put  up  recklessly.  This  is  a  grand  mistake,  for, 
while  the  universal  movement  will  generally  prevent 
corner  or  "  cant  "  wear,  it  does  not  in  the  least  reduce 
the  general  ill  effects  of  general  bad  alignment,  and 
there  is  no  justification  for  putting  such  hangers  up  in 
bad  shape,  and  no  justification  for  omitting  any  of  the 
facilities  for  adjustment.  Some  makers  have  adopted 
the  ball-and-socket  hanger  on  account  of  its  peculiarly 
solid  form,  simplicity  of  structure  and  low  cost,  and  it 
is  often  copied  under  the  impression  that  it  possesses 
all  the  virtues  of  the  old  gimbal  hanger.  When  the 
ball-and-socket  hanger  is  up  and  in  line,  it  is  the  real 
equivalent  of  the  gimbal  hanger,  but  it  lacks  an  im- 
portant feature  of  convenience  in  erection  and  re-ad- 
justment. The  horizontal  adjusting  movement  is  omit- 
ted altogether,  and  a  substitute  found  in  sledge-ham- 
mer manipulations. 

*  *  *  *  Speaking  of  line  shafts,  the  Colt's  Fire 
Arms  Co.,  of  Hartford,  have  something  peculiar  in  the 
way  of  line  shafts.  There  are  many  lines  of  many 
hundred  feet,  and  all  the  shafts  are  twelve  inches  in 
diameter.  The  idea  is  to  use  no  pulleys,  but  to  run 
the  belts  directly  upon  the  shaft.  The  speed  of  driven 
devices  is  arranged  by  using  proper-sized  receiving- 
pulleys.  The  shaft  is  of  cast  iron,  very  light,  and  is 
reduced  to  four  inches  at  the  bearings,  which  are  about 
twelve  feet  apart.  The  shaft,  or  drum,  is  made  in 
sections,  each  having  an  internal  flange  at  each  end. 
Each  journal  is  in  spool  form — that  is,  it  has  a  flange 


256  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAb's     LETTERS. 

at  each  end,  and  these  journal  flanges  are  bolted  to 
the  drum  flanges.  There  are  no  elastic  features  intro- 
duced, the  whole  being  as  rigid  as  possible.  Where 
motion  is  transmitted  from  one  line  to  another,  pulleys 
are  used,  the  hubs  being  bored  to  fit  the  drum,  the 
same  as  if  it  was  of  the  usual  size.  A  pair  of  vertical 
engines  drive  the  initial  shaft,  and  the  line  shaft  is 
caused  to  act  as  the  crank  shaft  of  the  engines.  Crank 
discs  are  placed  on  the  ends  of  the  line  shaft,  and  re- 
ceive motion  directly  from  the  engines.  A  line  shaft, 
large  enough  to  act  as  a  driving  pulley,  will  be  a  new 
idea  to  many,  and  will  be  apt  at  once  to  suggest  criti- 
cism. It  is  evident  that  excellent  intentions  will  some- 
times fail,  and  that  time  will  see  many  odd-sized  pul- 
leys strung  upon  this  drum.  Such  pulleys  might  be 
called  lagging.  We,  who  are  used  to  putting  a  belt  on 
a  dead  pulley  and  then  on  the  live  one,  will  wonder 
how  they  get  along  without  the  privilege. 

*  *     *     *     I  wish  to  ask  if  an  invention  is  not  called 
for  in  the  way  of  a  good  substantial,  adjustable  chuck- 
drill,    if    such   qualities   may   possibly   be   combined. 
Chuck  drills  are  generally  made  of  flat  steel  or  old 
files,  and  thus  far  nothing  has  been  gotten  up  which 
will  equal  them  in  their  peculiar  capabilities. 

Among  agricultural  implement  makers  it  is  the 
main  tool.  Their  expert  boring  hands  put  these  ugly 
looking  drills  through  one-sided,  rough-cored  holes 
dead  true,  a  hand  reamer  finishing  the  job. 

*  *     *     *     \  have  noticed  one  queer  thing  about 
chuck  drilling.     In  the  agricultural  shops,  where  the 
work  is  all  rough,  a  green  boy  will  be  set  to  work  at  a 
chucking  lathe,  instructed  a  short  time  in  this  work, 
learns  nothing  else,  and  soon  bores  good,  true  holes 
without  any  appeal  to  luck.     He  never  even  finds  out 
that  his  drills  have  a  tendency  to  travel  and  run  out. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  fine  lathesman,  working  on  nice 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 


257 


work,  often  uses  these  drills  to  follow  cored  holes  or  to 
cut  from  the  solid,  but  he  never,  even  by  chance,  suc- 
ceeds in  getting  one  to  go  through  straight.  He  never 
seems  to  get  the  " swing"  of  the  process.  He  never 
acknowledges  this,  however,  and  attempts  to  console 
himself  by  saying  he  only  wanted  to  take  the  sand  out 
and  didn't  care  whether  it  ran  true  or  not.  It  will 
always  be  found  that  such  men  set  such  a  drill  at 
work  with  good  resolutions  to  have  it  go  through  truly, 
but  the  affair  ends  in  good  resolutions,  and  the  drill 
soon  goes  on  its  winding  way  as  usual. 


258  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     XXX. 

ELASTICITY  OF  WORKMEN.  — HOW  CHORDAL  GOT    BOUNCED. 

A    GLORIOUS    MECHANICAL    TRAMP.  RESURRECTING 

SHOPS. 

*  *  *  *  rjjd  yOU  ever  find  that  a  lack  of  elas- 
ticity on  the  part  of  your  workmen  thwarted  you  in 
your  good  intentions  ?  Have  you  not  found  out  that 
even  American  workmen  get  into  a  certain  habit  and 
kick  vigorously  against  any  change  ?  This  kick  always 
takes  the  form  of  contempt  for  the  man  suggesting  the 
change.  If  you  have  ever  received  such  kicks  you 
have  also  given  them.  This  stubborn  grooviness,  this 
lack  of  the  exercise  of  reason,  this  conservatism  of 
craft,  is  one  thing  present  in  some  degree  in  all  men, 
and  its  degree  of  absence  represents  the  real  degree 
of  progress.  A  new  foreman  goes  into  a  shop.  He 
finds  roughing  cuts  taken  at  a  proper  rate  of  feed,  but 
he  finds  that  the  quick-finishing  cut  is  unknown.  No 
knowledge  of  tool  surfacing  by  sliding  cuts  seems  to 
exist.  The  wiry,  rough  tapering  and  changing  surface 
of  the  fine  feed  is  the  standard  for  rough  work,  and 
these  defects  corrected  by  the  file  are  the  standard  for 
nicer  work.  A  smart  foreman  bounces  this  thing  in- 
stanter,  and  he  will  have  a  hot  time  of  it.  He  takes 
off  his  coat,  grinds  up  broad-nosed  tools  and  shoves 
clean,  true  cuts  over  work,  but  there  is  no  smile  of 
approval.  No  workman  meets  him  half  way.  The 
results  are  new,  and  therefore  unacceptable.  This 
isn't  always  true,  but  I  am  speaking  of  the  many  cases 
where  it  is  true.  There  are  several  reasons  why  the 
men  don't  rebound  to  the  new  suggestion.  For  one 
reason,  they  see  a  man  claiming  to  show  them  some- 
thing about  their  business.  That  hurts.  For  another 
reason,  they  are  called  on  to  see  and  acknowledge  that 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  259 

another  man's  process  produces  better  results  than 
their  own.  That  hurts.  For  another  reason,  it  looks 
quicker.  That  hurts. 

*  *     *     *     Our  new  foreman,  having  full  power, 
may,  if  he  chooses,  override  the  prejudices  of  his  con- 
servative workmen,  and  force  them  to  a  good  plan  by 
the  simple  exercise  of  authority.     But  if  our  new  fore- 
man is  smart,  he  will  not  do  it  that  way,  for  he  will  be 
loosening  the   ground   under  him  at   the  very  start. 
He  finds  the  men  are  good  men,  and  he  is  a  poor  gen- 
eral indeed  if  he  starts  out  by  putting  indignities  upon 
them.     He  would  humble  their  pride  instead  of  en- 
hancing it.     If  he  takes  the  wrong  tack,  he  can  very 
easily  increase  the  cost  of  the  work,  when  the  very 
opposite  is  his  intention.     If  he  gets  one  new  man,  an 
experienced  broad-tool  man,  he  can  make  these  chap- 
pies ashamed  of  themselves,  and  effect  the  very  object 
sought. 

*  *     *     *     Such  things  come  up  every  time  a  new 
foreman  starts  in.     I  have  been  on  both  sides  of  this 
business  myself.     I  very  well  remember  turning  up  a 
lot  of  circular  saw  arbors  out  of  three-inch  cold-rolled 
iron.     They  were  about  six  feet  long.    Now,  like  every 
other  country  machinist,  I  had  got  it  into  my  head 
that  a  saw  arbor  was  a  particularly  nice  job,  and  I  also 
got  it  into  my  head  that  I  could  turn  up  a  better  one 
than  the  oldest  man  in  America  could. 

To  have  a  shaft  so  true  that  a  sixty-inch  saw,  clamped 
between  five  inch  collars,  should  run  dead  true,  seemed 
to  be  an  essential  quality  in  saw  arbors,  just  as  though 
it  was  not  as  easy  and  proper  to  make  a  hundred  other 
things  just  as  true.  Of  course  it  would  not  do  to  turn 
this  job  end  for  end  after  trueing  one  journal.  The 
thought  that  this  would  apply  equally  as  well  to  all 
journaled  jobs  never  occurred  to  me.  These  arbors 
had  a  five-eighth  key  seat  cut  between  the  journals.  I 


260  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

had  turned  up  lots  of  these  arbors.  It  was  my  special 
prerogative.  I  guess  I  got  them  all  right  and  nice  and 
true.  They  were  not  turned  in  the  body  at  all.  The 
collar  work  was  fitted  up  and  the  journals  skimmed, 
that  was  all.  No  filing,  all  water  cut.  Four  inches 
projection  beyond  the  outer  journal  allowed  this  whole 
thing  to  be  finished  at  one  dogging.  From  my  lathe 
these  arbors  went  to  a  planer  and  had  the  key  seats 
cut.  Now  anybody  who  knows  much  about  cold-rolled 
iron  can  imagine  what  became  of  my  fine  true  journals 
and  collar  faces.  But  I  never  imagined  anything  about 
it,  and  the  foreman  never  did. 

*  *  *  *  But  one  day  a  new  foreman  came.  Eddy 
was  his  name.  I  don't  know  whether  he  ever  saw  a 
saw  arbor  before  or  not,  but  he  was  a  thorough  me- 
chanic and  knew  more  about  saw  arbors  in  a  minute 
than  I  did  in  a  week.  I  didn't  look  at  it  that  way 
however  just  then.  He  brought  around  some  of  these 
arbor  jobs,  looked  at  them  a  minute  or  two,  bit  his  lip 
a  little,  and  then  sent  the  jobs  to  the  planer  to  have 
key  seats  cut  in  them  before  they  went  into  the  lathe. 

I  was  in  arms  in  a  minute.  This  wasn't  the  way  I 
had  been  doing  the  job.  I  claimed  to  have  sense  and 
reason  and  regard  for  people,  but  instead  of  co-operat- 
ing with  this  man  just  when  he  needed  it,  and  just 
when  the  co-operation  of  every  man  in  the  shop  would 
be  of  real  value  to  him,  I  grew  morose,  sullen,  stub- 
born, defiant,  and  rebellious.  I  might  state  right  here 
that  Mr,  Eddy  showed  a  keen  appreciation  of  these 
new  and  valuable  qualities,  and  he  proved  it  by  giving 
the  mutinous  Chordal  the  grand  and  instantaneous 
"bounce."  Eddy  was  a  good  mechanic,  a  good  sort  of 
a  man,  and  all  that,  but  he  was  a  miserable  general. 
He  did  not  go  and  get  one  of  my  brag  saw  arbors  in 
which  the  key  seat  had  been  planed  after  the  lathe 
work  was  done.  If  he  had,  he  might  have  shown  me 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  26 1 

my  elegant  arbor  sprung  about  a  thirty-second.  No 
lecture  would  have  been  needed  ;  I  think  I  could  have 
seen  the  joke  without  a  diagram.  Eddy's  good  sense 
told  him  that  saw  arbors  should  be  straight,  that  turn- 
ing the  job  nicely  would  straighten  it,  that  keyseating 
would  spring  it,  and  that  it  would  be  a  wise  plan  to  do 
the  crooking  part  of  the  business  before  the  straight- 
ening part  was  done.  He  comes  and  orders  me  to  plane 
the  keyseated  piece  as  straight  as  possible,  and  then  do 
the  lathe  work.  He  did'nt  take  the  trouble  to  ease 
away  my  prejudices,  so  that  I  might  be  wiser  and  his 
path  more  smooth.  He  kicks  one  blockhead  out  and 
puts  another  blockhead  in  his  place.  It  took  me  over 
two  years  to  find  out  why  Eddy  changed  the  manner 
of  making  saw  arbors,  and  during  that  two  years  I 
lived  in  ignorance,  and  he  had  my  contempt.  He 
failed  in  his  obligations  to  his  men  when  he  omitted 
to  educate  me,  in  some  roundabout  and  unsuspicious 
manner,  up  to  the  new  standard.  A  foreman  should 
be  a  general,  but  a  machinist  is  not  a  soldier.  He  is, 
or  ought  to  be,  a  skillful  man.  It  should  be:  "  know 
how  to  do,"  instead  of  "do  this  way."  Eddy  had  no 
right  to  throw  the  burden  of  educating  me  in  this 
special  thing  upon  some  other  foreman.  He  had  no 
right  to  let  me  pass  through  his  fingers  without  my 
being  wiser  for  having  worked  for  him.  He  had  no 
right  to  allow  a  mistaken  contempt  to  rest  in  my  mind. 
A  workman  has  a  claim  on  a  foreman  in  the  matter  of 
the  reason  for  certain  operations  of  skill. 

*  *  *  *  The  cynic  only  knows  no  heroes.  The 
dullest  routine  practice  finds  unknown  somebodies 
who  by  bold  originality  have  entitled  themselves  to 
that  highest  expression  of  praise,  "  better  than  I." 

This  constitutes  fame.  We  who  live  in  shops  have 
our  heroes  too.  Men  who  have  done  what  we  would 
die  without  having  done.  Men  whom  we  can  respect 


262  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

without  envy.  These  are  the  men  whose  garments  touch 
us  daily.  They  are  the  heroes  and  examples  of  the  shop. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  these,  to  me,  was  a  certain 
quiet,  dignified  gentleman,  called  DeLow,  whom  I  once 
mentioned  to  you.  He  was  not  the  hero  of  an  art  but 
was  the  hero  of  an  artisan.  He  was  simply  a  machine 
shop  foreman,  and  was  for  twenty  years  before  he 
died.  His  rarity  entitles  his  name  to  mention,  for  few 
foremen  so  well  understood  the  requirements  or  capa- 
bilities for  good  of  their  position.  He  was,  in  the 
"  mechanical "  sense  of  the  term,  a  tramp.  His  life 
was  not  interwoven  with  any  one  shop.  One  day  he 
said  to  me :  "I  know  of  no  more  pitiable  subject  than 
a  foreman  out  of  position  after  long  years  of  rfarrow 
service  in  one  shop.  Gold  in  the  shop  he  staid  by  so 
long,  but  the  most  inelastic  lead  in  a  new  position. 
Nobody  wants  him.  His  usefulness  is  over,  and  if 
middle  aged  he  calls  his  life  a  failure." 

DeLow's  usefulness  was  of  the  cosmopolitan  order 
and  instantly  available. 

He  always  worked  for  just  eighteen  hundred  dollars 
a  year,  and  would  often  refuse  higher  pay  for  po- 
sitions as  superintendent,  manager,  etc.  He  said  :  "I 
am  a  foreman  machinist.  My  province  is  the  machine 
shop,  which  I  must  control.  I  am  responsible  for  the 
quality  and  cost  of  the  work.  Chapman  with  his  little 
shop  paid  me  $1800  when  his  own  income  as  proprietor 
was  less  then  $i  200,  but  he  showed  his  sense  by  employ- 
ing me,  odd  as  it  may  seem,  for  he  never  made  five 
cents  out  of  that  shop  before  I  went  there.  He  offered 
me  a  half  interest  in  the  concern  freely,  but  I  declined, 
for  proprietorship  is  not  my  profession." 

*  *  *  *  I  once  became  acquainted  with  the 
owners  of  a  shop.  They  had  a  splendid  field,  a  good 
plant,  but  wretched  shop  management.  They  were  not 
mechanics  and  depended  on  some  leading  workman, 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  263 

having  no  executive  ability  whatever,  for  the  running 
of  the  shop.  They  opened  their  hearts  to  me,  and  I 
suggested  DeLow  to  them.  They  studied  the  thing 
over,  multiplied  his  1800  by  all  the  digits,  and  finally  sent 
for  him.  He  came  and  conquered.  Quietly  but 
certainly  revolutionized  that  concern,  gave  their  work 
a  reputation,  increased  their  capacity  two-fold  without 
expense,  made  the  thing/tfy. 

But  he  only  staid  a  year.  He  went  to  them  and  said 
he  must  be  king  in  the  shop.  His  position  and  prerog- 
atives must  be  respected  by  both  men  and  owners. 
They  understood  his  motives  and  peculiarities,  and 
concurred,  but,  on  several  occasions,  had  walked 
around  "  the  dignity  of  his  great  office,"  so  with  the 
best  of  feeling  all  around  he  went  elsewhere.  He 
went  to  Wycoff's  and  staid  a  month;  he  went  to  Hunt- 
er's and  didn't  stay  at  all.  He  wanted  more  dignity 
than  Hunter  had  to  spare. 

The  peculiar  fitness  DeLow  possessed  for  his  pro- 
fession, as  he  called  it,  would  be  hard  to  describe.  All 
who  employed  him  admired  and  respected  him,  and 
revere  his  memory  to  day,  for  he  was  one  of  those  men 
who,  though  our  employes,  make  us  feel  that  the  world 
is  better  for  their  having  lived  in  it.  I  have  met 
machinists  in  twenty  states  who  have  worked  for  him, 
and  all  hold  his  memory  in  high  regard,  which  is  a  rare 
thing  to  be  said  of  a  foreman  who  does  his  duty  by  his 
employers. 

Many  of  these  men  say  they  are  better  workmen  and 
manlier  men  after  having  worked  for  DeLow.  I  know 
that  any  man  who  worked  a  year  for  him  is  a  more 
valuable  and  better  paid  machinist  than  before. 

In  the  shop  DeLow  was  firm  and  just,  handled  his 
men's  self  respect  with  the  greatest  and  tenderest 
caution,  if  they  had  any.  Building  upon  that  quality 
he  increased  a  man's  usefulness.  If  the  man  lacked 


264      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

the  quality  of  self-respect,  he  discharged  him  incon- 
tinently. 

He  gave  man  and  apprentice  the  best  work  he  could 
do,  and  paid  him  accordingly.  If  incompetent,  he 
reduced  the  grade  of  work  and  pay.  He  kept  a  man 
in  his  proper  place,  leaving  the  choice  of  place  to  the 
man's  capability. 

He  had  wealth  of  resources  for  emergencies,  but  I 
never  heard  of  his  putting  finger  to  work,  never  saw 
him  touch  a  file  or  a  hammer,  and  never  saw  him  idle. 
He  was  the  quiet  and  dignified  physician  of  the  mach- 
ine shop's  ills. 

I  knew  him  to  resurrect  two  concerns,  dead  even  to 
mortification. 

*  *  *  *  Speaking  of  foremen;  I  hold  my 
foreman  responsible  for  every  thing  which  passes 
him.  I  refer  to  moral  responsibility  of  course. 
If  a  job  is  too  poorly  done  or  too  well  done — 
both  are  faults  equally — I  blame  him.  He  can- 
not lay  it  to  the  workmen,  for  it  is  his  business  to 
see  that  his  work  is  properly  done  by  his  men.  He 
should  work  by  inspection,  not  by  faith. 

Some  men  don't  think  work  can  be  too  well  done. 
There  is  as  much  work  done  too  well  as  too  poorly. 

There  is  work  upon  which  refinement  is  wasted.  I  put 
up  about  two  hundred  sorghum  mills  one  season.  The 
requirements  were  well  understood  by  my  customers, 
by  my  foreman  and  myself,  in  spite  of  which,  one  lot  was 
fitted  up  with  the  nicety  of  a  Corliss  valve  gear.  It 
made  the  mills  cost  more  and  made  them  not  a  whit 
better.  My  foreman  laid  it  to  the  men,  said  they  would 
work  on  a  job  long  after  it  was  done.  I  told  him  he 
could  not  shift  the  responsibility  to  the  men.  I  order- 
ed a  certain  thing  of  him,  and,  it  being  in  his  power  to 
furnish  it,  he  should  do  it.  If  he  would  work  fine  men 
on  such  work,  he  must  stand  the  blame. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S     LETTERS.  265 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

SUCCESSFUL     THINGS     THAT     WON'T     DO.  —  SCREWING-ON 

VERSUS    CASTING-ON. THE    TEN-YEAR-OLD    METHOD    OF 

POLISHING. — MIGRATING    WESTWARD. 

*  *     *    *    When  the  lover  of  music  allows  his  tastes 
to  degenerate  into  a  knowledge  of  art,  he  may  bid  fare- 
well to  the  real  pleasures  of  music.     When  he  loses 
sight  of  music's  high  and  only  office,  that  of  pleasing 
a  natural  sense,  and  sees  in  it  only  demonstrations  of 
achievement,  he  leaves  music  and  approaches  art.    He 
cares  no  longer  for  what  is  done.     He  asks  'how  it  is 
done  and  who  did  it.     He  looks  for  the  signature  of 
the  producer,  and  has  no  ear  for  the  sweetness  of  the 
product. 

The  painter  and  the  critic  bury  their  love  of  the 
beautiful  under  the  distorting  glass  of  a  most  terrible 
art.  A  souvenir  of  a  master  takes  more  value  than  a 
masterpiece  without  credentials.  Authenticity  in  the 
signature  becomes  of  more  moment  than  merit  in  the 
work. 

*  *     *     *     The  blighting  rigors  of  art  and  artists 
sometimes  get  into  the  shop.     The  name-plate  on  a 
machine  will  sometimes  secure  a  respected  tolerance 
and   defence  for  the  most    pronounced   failures,  and 
often  the  meritorious  offspring  of   some   interloping 
nobody  will  quietly  do  the  proper  deed  unhonored. 

*  *     *     *     When  we  talk  of  educated  mechanics, 
we  mean  men  who  know  lots  of  things  outside  of  their 
own  experience.     If  they  come  from  schools  and  col- 
leges, they  are  well  posted  as  to  purity  of  design  and 
propriety  of  movements.    They  know  how  things  ought 
to  be  done,  and  they  know  how  things  ought  not  to  be 
done.     They  know  of  applicable  principles,  and  they 
know  of  things  which  won't  do. 


266  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS. 

*  *     *   *     Sometimes    these    poor    men,   in    their 
walks  in  the  world,  discover  that  the  most  successful 
thing?  are  those  things  which  won't  do,  and  they  often 
find  the  proper  thing  a  total  failure.      Such    things 
make  a  man  sick. 

*  *     *     *     1^  most  reprehensible  bigotry  is  the 
bigotry  of  art,  and   next  comes  the  bigotry  of  com- 
merce.     That  good  thing  isn't  good  because  we  didn't 
make  it,  and  this  bad  thing  is  good  because  we  did 
make  it. 

*  *     *     *     If  an  artistic  machine  designer  is  of  the 
bigoted  kind,  and   the  proprietors  have  a  good  share 
of  commercial  bigotry,  their  draughting-room  is  a  nice 
place  for  a  student. 

*  *     *     *     A  student   under    such    circumstances, 
surrounded  by  smart  but  narrow  men,  will  grow  more 
ignorant  every  day.     He  absorbs  home  examples  as 
types  of  the  only  correct  form,  and  a  departure  from 
these   home    forms   is  the   basis  of    his    future  criti- 
cisms. 

The  susceptible  youth  spends  his  young  days  in  an 
atmosphere  of  self  praise.  His  world  is  composed  of 
"we,"  and  the  outside  "they"  are  never  studied. 
When  this  young  man  goes  out  into  the  world  he  don't 
meet  "we"  so  often  as  he  expected,  and  he  finds  the 
contemptible  "they"  all  around  him.  He  comes  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  world  is  ignorant. 

*  *     *     *     I  was  once  wandering  through  a  machine 
exhibition  and  had  struck  up  an  acquaintance  with  a 
purty  from  Fitchburg.   We  stopped  to  examine  a  lathe 
made  by  the  Niles  Works.     The  exhibitor  told  us  the 
tube  was  cast  upon  the  tail  stock,  while  all  New  Eng- 
land manufacturers  screw  them  on.     When  together, 
the  appearance  is  exactly  the  same,  and  there  can  be 
no  difference  in  the  value  of  the  completed  article.     I 
have  never  been  able  to  account   for  the  Fitchburg 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS.  267 

man's  wonder,  and  his  expression,  "  I  don't  see  why 
they  don't  screw  them  on." 

*  *     *     *     We   were   admiring   a   Sellers'   planer, 
and  watching  an  Englishman  who  had  evidently  never 
seen  one  before.     His  mind  evidently  went  back  to  the 
old  screw  planers,  and  traced  the  thing  down  to  the 
present,  for  he  finally  said,  "I  see,  now;  they  used  to 
make  them  all  screw;  now  they  make  them  all  nut." 

*  *     *     *    The  more  cultured  a  mechanic  becomes, 
and  the  more  he  travels,  the  more  he  sees  of  the  sick- 
ening successes  of  bad  things. 

*  *     *     *     If  we  pick  up  a  mechanical  work  of  ref- 
erence, we  find  complete  detailed  descriptions  of  ma- 
chines which  have  a  general  air  of  correctness  about 
them.     They  are  placed  in  such  books  as  types  of  ad- 
vanced practice,  and  the  experienced   practical  man 
will  discover  in  many  of  these  orthodox  arrangements 
types  of  the  most  pronounced  practical  failures. 

*  *     *     *     Maybe  you  don't  know  it,  but  I  claim 
to  be  one  of  these  critical  mechanics  myself.     I  know 
good  work  when  I  see  it,  and  have  tolerably  fair  ideas 
of  forms.     I  like  to  see  surfaces  of  good  character  and 
of  proper  proportion  brought   into  good   contact.     I 
like  to  see  things  so  shaped  as  to  look  right  and  proper, 
and  I  like  to  see  good  finish  where  finish  is  put.    I  don't 
like  to  see  things  look  wrong  all  over,  in  design,  work- 
manship, choice  of  material,  and  adaptation;  and  when 
I  am  forced  to  see  them,  whether  I  like  it  or  not,  I  don't 
like  to   see  them  doing  their  intended   work  with  a 
nicety  and  perfection  which  command    the   applause 
of  every  ignorant  beholder.     I   see  just  such  things 
every  day. 

*  *     *     *     Years  ago  there  was  gotten   up,  some- 
where in  this  State,  a  portable  engine  for  threshing 
purposes.      It  was  simply  known   as  the    New  York 
engine.     From  an  intimate  knowledge  of  this  engine, 


268  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

I  feel  justified  in  saying  that  from  one  end  of  the 
machine  to  the  other  there  was  not  a  detail  which  the 
cultured  machinist  would  not  criticise.  The  boiler 
wasn't  calculated  anyway  at  all;  its  bracing  isn't  what's 
called  right;  it  seems  to  have  none  of  the  proportions 
the  books  tell  of.  The  cylinder  seems  wrong  for  the 
boiler,  and  the  ports  seem  wrong  for  the  cylinder,  and 
the  valve  seems  wrong  for  the  ports,  and  the  eccentric 
seems  wrong  for  the  valve.  The  piston-rod  is  held  in 
the  cross  head,  and  has  been  held  in  there  for  years  by 
a  plan  which  won't  hold  it,  you  know.  The  connect- 
ing rod  is  one  of  these  things  which  won't  do  at  all. 
The  main  brasses  are  bored  castings  dropped  rough 
into  the  iron  pedestals.  This  won't  do,  of  course  ;  no 
formula  will  fit  the  fly-wheel,  so,  of  course,  the  fly. 
wheel  is  wrong,  and  all  the  formulas  you  can  find 
will  twist  the  main  shaft  off  as  soon  as  the  engine 
starts. 

I  have  seen  much  of  portable  engines,  and  I  give  it 
as  my  opinion  that  this  same  engine  is  the  most 
excellent  and  successful  engine  in  the  market — an 
opinion  which  I  feel  corroborated  by  the  hard  solid 
fact,  that  the  most  successful  portable  engine-builders  in 
the  country  to-day  are  those  ten  or  fifteen  men  who  have 
copied  this  engine  outright,  or  with  some  slight  varia- 
tions in  keeping  with  the  general  make-up  of  the 
engine.  Among  the  sensible  copyists,  I  know  two  or 
three  who  have  no  respect  whatever  for  the  engine  they 
build,  but  whose  success  they  are  bound  to  respect. 

*  *     *     *     Many  a  machine  builder  of  high  degree, 
finds  that  the  real  hard  work  of  his  life  is  to  battle 
against  the  successful  things  which  won't  do. 

*  *     *     *     The  machine   designer,  when    he   gets 
cornered,  always  has  a  number  of  plans  on  hand  which 
are  not  acceptable.     He  will  say," I  can  do  it  this  way, 
but  this  is  no  way  to  do  it.     I  can  do  it  that  way,  but 


I  once  saw  a  ten-year-old  Nigger  boy  finishing  flat-irons  on  an  emery 
wheel, — Page  272. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL S    LETTERS.  271 

that's  wrong.  I  can  do  it  this  way,  but  it  would  be 
absurd.  I  can  do  it  that  way,  but  I  don't  want  to. 
Such  cases  produce  dyspepsia  and  baldness. 

*  *     *     *     Sometimes  the  same  man  is  disposed  to 
make  use  of  some  simple  contrivance,  which,  by  some 
reckless  springing  of  parts  or  imperfection  of  move- 
ment, will  do  the  very  thing  he  wants.     The  Yankees, 
I  believe,  call  this  manslaughter,  and  understand  its 
value  in  a  pinch. 

*  *     *     *     There  are  devices  which  will  not  stand 
critical  analysis  at  all,  but  experience  shows  them  to 
be  of  the  utmost  utility.     Of  this  character  is  the  link 
motion  of  a  locomotive.     We  can   never  hope  to  find 
such   another   perfect   success   of   such    an    imperfect 
principle. 

Another  case  is  found  in  the  running-gear  of  a  buggy 
or  other  vehicle.  Not  a  torsion  joint  about  the  perfect 
thing,  and  flexibility  is  essential. 

*  *     *     *     Returning  again  to  the  trammels  of  art, 
did  you  ever  notice  what  queer  notions  some  machinists 
have  about  finish  ?     They  don't  seem  to  care  so  much 
about  the  thing  when   it's  done,  as  they  do  about  the 
plan  of  doing  it.     In   railroad  shops  some  one  man  is 
always  harping  on  file  finish.     I  have  worked  in  more 
than  one  of  these  shops,  and  I  have  never  yet  seen  one 
of  these  men  who  could   put  a  finish  on  a  job  with  a 
file.     The  most  he  can  do  is  to  file  a  job  in  good  shape 
to  be  finished. 

This  thing  of  getting  the  scratches  tolerably  shallow 
and  very  parallel,  and  then  calling  the  surface  a 
finished  one,  won't  do  in  these  days  when  we  see  good 
finish  every  day. 

A  finished  job  is  a  polished  job.  If  it's  a  polish 
without  proper  surface  under  it,  it  don't  look  well; 
and  if  it  has  good  surface  without  proper  polish  on  it, 
it  don't  look  well.  A  highly  finished  surface  always 


272  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S     LETTERS. 

has  a  high  polish,  and  machinists  condemn  it  because 
they  can't  do  it.  I  like  to  see  a  well  finished  and  highly 
polished  surface,  and  it's  nothing  to  me  whether  it  was 
done  with  a  rasp,  or  a  file,  or  a  grindstone,  or  a  belt,  or 
grit  wheel,  or  what  not. 

I  have  never  seen  any  good  polishing  which  was  not 
done  by  a  wheel  or  some  such  rig.  I  have  heard  lots 
of  blowing  about  hand  finishing,  but  I  never  saw  any 
of  the  finish  worth  blowing  about. 

I  once  saw  a  ten  year  old  nigger  boy  finishing  flat 
irons  on  an  emery  wheel,  and  he  was  doing  work  a 
thousand  per  cent,  nicer  and  better  than  anything  I 
ever  saw  done  at  a  vise. 

*  *  *  *  por  the  t>enefit  of  Eastern  workmen, 
who  may  seek  work  in  the  West,  I  will  give  a  point 
or  two  which  I  have  picked  up  since  I  have  been  out 
here.  If  you  come  with  a  pocket-full  of  testimonials 
and  recommendations,  you  can't  get  a  job.  If  you 
set  yourself  up  for  a  genius,  you  can't  get  a  job.  If  you 
sneer  at  the  Western  style,  you  can't  hold  a  job.  If 
you  go  to  bragging,  you  can't  stay  in  a  shop.  Bosses 
don't  want  to  hear  what  you  did  in  Jericho,  but  want 
you  to  dry  up  and  show  what  you  can  do  in  Rome. 
Simply  coming  from  the  East  won't  make  you  a 
lieutenant  general  in  the  West.  The  most  useless 
machinists  that  have  ever  got  into  some  of  these  West- 
ern shops  are  crack  men  from  the  East.  If  they  were 
good  men,  they  too  often  get  disgusted,  then  dispirited, 
and  finally  sink  to  the  level  of  the  worst  around  them. 
If  they  were  bad,  they  get  worse.  Good  hard  headed 
manliness,  combined  with  good  horse  sense  and  tip-top 
skill,  will  win  every  time  among  these  shops.  Don't 
brag  what  you  can  do,  but  show  what  you  can  do. 
Don't  assume  that  you  are  a  better  man  than  another, 
but  try  and  prove  it  to  yourself '.  Don't  let  on  that  you 
miss  the  facilities  you  were  brought  up  on,  but  grad- 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 


ually  learn  the  new  way,  without  ever  forgetting  the 
old  way.  You  may  be  the  happy  means  of  improving 
the  shop  you  work  in,  but  you  can't  do  it  by  bluster. 
You  must  do  it  by  nice  management.  If  you  are  a 
skilled  man,  you  ought  to  learn  how  to  manage  your 
skill  before  going  into  strange  countries.  If  you  don't, 
you  will  bring  discredit  on  your  native  place.  Bear  in 
mind,  that  in  going  West,  you  go  among  the  smartest 
and  crudest  workmen  in  the  world.'  The  minute  you 
set  foot  in  their  land,  you  will  find  them  doing  a 
thousand  things  you  don't  know  how  to  do,  and  would 
be  ashamed  -to  do  if  you  did  know  how  ;  but  you  have 
got  to  do  it,  nevertheless,  and  the  men  who  employ  you 
will  be  glad  when  you  improve  your  surroundings.  If 
you  could  not  do  well  East,  you  wilt  starve  West, 
and  if  you  did  well  East,  you  can  do  better  West; 
above'all  things,  let  your  superiority  assert  itself  with 
out  the  aid  of  "  blowing  "  from  you. 


274      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

SETTLING       MECHANICAL       DISPUTES. — ADVANTAGES       OF 

HAVING       NO       FOUNDRY. MECHANICAL      QUIXOTISM. 

FORGES   AND     SHELVES     FOR     THE     NORTH     SHOP. — THE 
STEAM   ENGINE    INDICATOR. 

*  *     *     *     Qur  craft  must  often  prove  a  law  unto 
itself,  for  every  few  days  some  little  thing  turns  up  in 
business  which  would  puzzle  the  highest  kind  of  a  joint 
commission.      Machinists  are,  of  course,  governed   by 
law,  just  like  common  folks,  but  a  man  who  tries  to  do 
business  with  the  statutes  as  his  sole  guide  would  soon 
find  he  had  no  business   to  do.     Business  men  can't 
afford  to  quarrel,  leastwise  among  themselves. 

The  metropolitan  boards  of  trade  settle  more  real 
differences  than  the  metropolitan  courts  do,  and  it  has 
often  occurred  to  me  that  such  a  board  would  be  a 
handy  thing  around  machine  shops. 

*  *     *     *     I  am  not  what  the  world  calls  a  "  kicker," 
but  it  seems  to  me  I  am  called  on  too  often  to  pay 
unjust  bills.     I  have  no  foundry,  and  get  my  castings 
from  foundries  best  prepared  to  do  the  work.     I  thus 
avoid  the  necessity  of  getting  blast  furnace  and  such 
heavy  work  out  of  a  brass  foundry,  or  its  equivalent, 
as  I  should  do  if  I  tried  to  combine  the  whole  art  of 
founding   under   my   own    shop-roof.      This    plan   of 
having  no  foundry  is  immensely  satisfactory  in  many 
ways.     I  can  get  common  castings  on  short  notice  any 
day  of  the  week.     I  can  get  heavy  castings  and  light 
castings,  hard  castings,  or  soft  ones,  gray  iron,  or  cold 
blast,  or  brass  from  shops  better  fixed  for  each  parti- 
cular kind  of  work  than  I  would  be  the  day  before  I 
was  ready  to  die. 

*  *     *     *    If  I  had  my  own  foundry,  I  could  charge 
to  ill  luck,  or  bad  management,  many  of  the  little  and 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  275 

big  things  which  now  come  up  between  my  contractors 
and  myself. 

*  *  *  *  por  instance,  some  time  ago  I  was 
building  a  lot  of  nail  machines.  You  never  saw  better 
patterns  than  were  made  for  this  job.  The  patterns 
were  black,  as  usual,  and  every  core-print,  or  stopping- 
piece  was  yellow,  to  show  that  a  part  required  attention 
in  some  way.  Every  pattern  was  numbered,  and  every 
core-box  was  numbered  to  correspond. 

One  piece  of  these  nail  machines  weighs  about  eighty 
pounds,  and  has  a  large,  square  slot  cored  through  it. 
Twenty  of  these  machines  were  under  way,  and  these 
pieces  had  progressed  but  little,  when  it  was  discovered 
that  the  slot-core  had  been  left  out,  and  the  prints  cast 
on.  I  sent  the  castings  back  to  Brown's  foundry,  charged 
him  with  these  castings  which  he  had  been  credited 
with,  and  also  sent  him  a  bill  for  the  work  I  had  put 
on  the  castings  before  I  discovered  the  blunder.  Brown 
came  over  with  the  bill,  hopping  mad.  First,  he  said 
the  castings  were  all  right;  then  he  said  the  patterns, 
were  wrong,  and  it  was  my  fault;  then  he  said  it  was 
his  mistake,  and  that  he  would  make  new  castings,  and 
pay  for  the  cigars  besides,  and  charge  the  cigars  against 
the  moulder's  wages;  but  he  would  be  eternally  every 
thing  under  heavened,  if  he  would  pay  my  bill  for 
work  done  on  the  castings.  He  said  that  I  had  accepted 
the  castings,  and  that  he  was  entirely  too  liberal  in 
taking  them  back  at  all;  that  I  was  a  smart  machinist 
to  allow  my  men  to  weigh  up  castings,  and  then  do 
forty  dollars  worth  of  work  on  them  before  seeing  that 
they  wouldn't  do  ;  said  he  would  pay  for  his  mistake, 
but  not  for  mine.  I  toned  him  down  somewhat  by 
saying,  that  all  castings  coming  from  him  were  weighed 
up  to  his  credit,  on  his  reputation.  They  might  send 
castings  of  the  core-boxes  for  all  I  knew  or  cared,  or 
they  might  send  somebody  else's  castings.  . 


276  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

Then  Brown  took  the  ground  that  if  I  had  a  foundry 
myself,  these  mistakes  would  occur  just  the  same,  and 
I  would  have  to  stand  the  expense  of  new  castings,  and 
now  I  wanted  to  shove  the  thing  off  on  him.  I  sug- 
gested that  I  didn't  keep  a  foundry  for  that  very 
reason.  His  was  the  foundry,  and  his  the  gain  by 
good  luck,  and  his  the  loss  by  bad  luck.  Then  we  both 
decided  that  this  was  getting  off  the  track.  The 
question  was  not  one  of  replacing  bad  castings,  but  of 
paying  for  work  misplaced  through  what  I  had  to 
acknowledge  was  my  own  oversight,  if  not  my  real  fault. 
I  don't  know  what  will  become  of  my  bill. 

*  *     *     *    Another  case  :  I  wanted  three  big  shells 
cast ;  they  were  made  by  Walker,  swept  up  in  loam,  he 
furnishing  sweeps  and   working  to  dimensions  given 
in  the  order.     The  order  read  "  three  shells,  eight  feet 
long,  forty-nine  inches  outside  diameter,  and  as  thin 
as  can  be  cast.    Thickness  not  to  exceed  three-quarters 
of  an  inch."     My  estimate  had  been  based  on  a  thick- 
ness of  three  quarters,  and   Walker's   price  was  five 
cents  per  pound.     When  the  shells  came,  the  weight 
ran  away  above  my  estimate,  and  inspection  showed 
them  to  be  an  inch  thick  at  the  thinnest  part.     One  of 
the  shells  proved  unsound,  and  another  was  ordered 
and  came — five-eighths  thick.     I  figured  up  and  docked 
Walker's  bill  fifty-five  dollars.     I  suppose  there  will  be 
a   row  over  this  matter,  too.     I   don't   think   Walker 
would  have  been  justified  in  sending  me  castings  two 
inches  thick.     Why  ?     Because  I  wanted  thin  castings, 
and  ordered  thin  castings,  and  his  sending  me  one  shell 
five-eighths  thick,  showed   that   my   order  could   be 
filled. 

*  *     *     *     The  cause  for  growling  is  as  often  on  the 
side  of  the  foundryman.     I  know  a  case  in  point  and 
a  very  plain  one,  too. 

Bennett  was  building  a  hydrostatic  press  for  compres- 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  277 

ing  coal  slack.  The  pressure  applied  was  six  thousand 
pounds  per  square  inch.  He  used  a  pump  cast  from 
ordinary  iron  in  his  own  foundry.  The  pump  burst  as 
soon  as  the  ram  felt  full  pressure.  Then  Bennett 
strengthened  the  pattern  where  the  pump  broke,  and 
cast  another  from  common  iron.  Burst  instanter  on 
reaching  full  pressure.  Then  one  was  cast  from  cold 
blast  iron.  Burst  instanter.  Then  he  boxed  up  the 
pattern  and  sent  it  to  Luke  &  Matthews'  brass  foundry. 
Back  came  a  nice  brass  casting  weighing  about  forty 
pounds.  It  was  fitted  up  and  put  on,  and  it  burst  as 
the  others  had  done.  They  sent  the  casting  back,  and 
then  overhauled  the  whole  construction  of  the  pump, 
and  found  a  defect  in  design.  .  Bennett  cast  a  new 
pump  of  common  iron,  and  everything  was  lovely.  It 
would  stand  ten  thousand  pounds  per  square  inch, 
probably,  without  bursting.  Pretty  soon,  Luke  & 
Matthews  sent  bill  for  the  brass  casting,  twelve  dollars 
and  sixty  cents,  less  the  value  of  the  metal  in  this 
identical  casting  when  it  was  returned.  Did  Bennett 
pay  this  bill  ?  Not  any  to  speak  of.  He  indorsed  it 
"  casting  good  for  nothing,"  and  sent  it  back.  Then 
Luke  went  over,  and  very  justly  got  on  his  ear.  He  had 
furnished  exactly  what  was  ordered,  to  wit,  a  perfect 
casting  from  the  pattern  furnished.  The  faulty  design 
of  the  thing  was  no  fault  of  his.  Bennett  said  the 
pump  wasn't  good  for  anything,  and  he  would't  pay 
for  it,  not  even  for  the  metal  turned  off  it.  Luke 
said  he  wasn't  talking  about  any  pump  ;  he  wanted 
pay  for  a  good  brass  casting  furnished  as  per  order. 
I  don't  think  Luke  &  Matthews  ever  got  their  money. 
Any  jury  would  of  course  have  allowed  the  bill,  but  it 
don't  pay  business  men  to  appeal  to  juries.  In  business,, 
mutual  good  will  is  often  worth  more  than  legal  rights, 
and  principle  almost  always  has  to  give  way  to 
policy. 


278  EXTRACTS   FROM   CHORDAL*S   LETTERS. 

*  *     *     *     How  far  the  machine  shop  proprietor  is 
to  use  discretion  is  another  vexed  question. 

If  a  man  orders  a  certain  thing  of  me,  which  thing 
my  own  sense  tells  me  won't  do  what  he  expects  to  do, 
am  I  to  tell  him  so,  and  suggest  more  economical 
equivalents,  or  am  I  to  deny  all  relationship  with  my 
brothers  and  execute  his  order,  knowing  that  in  the 
end  it  will  have  to  be  done  over  again,  whereby  I  make 
more  money  and  my  workmen  get  more  work  ?  If  you 
have  a  friend  who  appears  thirsty  for  reputation,  and 
don't  seem  to  care  what  turn  the  reputation  takes,  just 
tell  him  to  go  into  any  business,  and  be  square,  honest 
and  open  with  customers.  His  reputation  as  a  fool  will 
surely  come.  If  he  by  a  miracle  succeeds  in  business, 
he  will  be  held  up  as  an  example  to  young  men. 

*  *     *     *     There    are    in    this   world   a   class   of 
machine  men  possessing  high  views,  noble  ambitions, 
and  an  unbounded  pride  in  their  art.     Their  mechan- 
ical ambition  takes  form  in  construction,  executed  on 
honor.     They  take  no  sordid  view  of  craft;  a  balance 
sheet  is  simply  a  vulgar,  incidental  necessity.      Every- 
thing they  do  represents  progress.     They  set  the  copy 
for  the  world.   They  dive  deep  into  research  and  green- 
backs and  bring  up  data,  which  add  to  the  perfection 
of  their  product,  and  to  their  reputation  as  leaders  in 
their  trade.     This  data,  or  knowledge,  or  whatever  e'lse 
you  may  call  it,  is  their  contribution  to  an  admiring 
public.     The  admiring  public  buy  their  product,  only 
so  long  as  they  will  compete  in  price  with  others  using 
the  same  data,  free  of  cost  of  getting,  and  no  longer. 
Give  such  a  shop  an  order  for  a  job  based  on  certain 
requirements.  They  estimate  the  price  on  a  plan  of  exe- 
cution which  their  ready  invention  has  already  contrived. 

'The  contract  is  closed  and  the  work  commenced.  A  new 
plan  opens  up  and  is  executed  at  double  the  proposed 
cost.  You  pay  the  same  as  contracted  for.  '  The  thing 


EXTRACTS    FROM     CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  279 

delivered  has,  say,  ten  times  the  capacity  of  the  thing 
proposed.  The  constructors,  in  their  noble  pride, 
have  far  exceeded  themselves,  and  have  had  no  thought 
of  the  contemptible  contract  price. 

*  *     *     *     This  thing  can  only   go   on   a   certain 
number  of  years  before  the  fact  develops  itself,  that 
the  candle  burns  away  at  one  end  and  don't  grow  at 
the  other. 

The  remedy  is  to  put  a  partition  across  the  shop ; 
do  high  and  mighty  and  lofty  and  admirable  execution 
on  one  side,  the  wick  side  of  the  partition  ;  and  do 
ordinary  machine  work  on  the  other  side.  Leave  sor- 
didness  behind  when  you  go  on  one  side,  and  leave 
pride  and  high  aims  behind  when  you  go  on  the  other 
side.  The  candle  won't  grow  any  shorter,  and  it  won't 
grow  any  longer,  either. 

*  *     *     *     TO  increase  the  length  of  the  candle, 
extinguish  the  lighted  end,  and  live  and  die  in  dark- 
ness. 

*  *     *     *     The  chief  end  of  some  lives  is  to  accu- 
mulate  gross  tallow,  to  accomplish  which  they  will 
begrudge  the   little   grease  imperatively  required    to 
lubricate  the  wheels  of  life.      There  are  other  lives 
absorbed  in   watching,   and   bettering  the  process  of 
dry  distillation  which  illumines  the  paths  along  which 
the  whole  world  moves  in  safety  and  pleasure. 

*  *     *     *     I    never  go    into   heroics.     You    and    I 
have  hundreds  of  friends  enjagcd  in  changing  dull 
and  heavy  material  into  moving  mechanism,  a  process 
akin  to  the  creation  of  life,  in  which  it  differs  vastly 
from  ordinary  trade  and  commerce.     The  two  tenden- 
cies I  speak  of  are  obtrusively  present,  or  ought  to  be, 
in  the  experience  of  every  shop  owner  in  the  world. 

In  many  cases  the  tending  forces  counter  each  other, 
and  the  results  are  nil.  This  is  the  worst  that  can 
possibly  happen. 


280  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

*  *     *     *     I  am  figuring  on  the  forges  for  the  north 
shop,  and  am   debating  whether  to  put  in  good  iron 
forges  with  hoods  and  stacks,  leaving  a  clear  floor,  or 
to  build  up  with  brick,  as  usual.     My  experience  is, 
that  it  takes  more  iron  work  to  tie  a  brick  forge  to- 
gether properly,  than  it  does  to  build  a  good  iron  forge 
entire. 

*  *     *     *     Question:    Is  it  possible  for  a   black- 
smith to  do  good  blacksmithing,  if  the  inevitable  little 
brick  shelves,  caused  by  the  narrowing  of  the  chimney 
walls,  are  absent  ? 

Where  on  earth  would  he  lay  his  chalk,  and  his 
matches,  and  dressed  and  undressed  tools,  and  his 
miserable  little  lead-pencil,  and  his  better  looking 
slate-pencil,  and  his  rule,  and  his  soap,  and  the  numer- 
ous odd  little  scraps  of  steel  he  saves  for  some  un- 
known and  unknowable  purpose,  and  the  hardy  which 
he  knows  can't  be  mended,  but  which  he  hates  to 
throw  away  ? 

*  *     *     *     I  have  some  very  unorthodox  views  of 
the  steam-engine  indicator.   It  has  two  functions  :  one 
in  the  hands  of  the  engine  tender  to  allow  him  to  keep 
his  valve  motion  at  its  best  practical  point,  spite  of 
adjustment  and  wear  ;  and  the  second  in  the  hands  of 
the   expert  to  allow  him  to  study  on  the  action  of 
steam.    Its  first  function  it  performs  in  a  perfectly  satis- 
factory   manner,  and    in    the    second   also,    perhaps, 
though  that  question   is  now  being  pretty  well  over- 
hauled.    Experts  decry  the  use  of  the  indicator  in  the 
hands  of  engine  men — think  the  art  will  become  de- 
graded, etc.     Not  a  bit  of  danger.     An  engineer,  with 
skill  enough  to  give  a  fifty-horse  engine  proper  atten- 
tion, can  use  indicators  for  the  purpose  specified  as 
well  as  any  expert  living,  after  he  has  learned   the 
simple  trade  (for  it's  nothing  but  a  trade)  of  taking 
diagrams,  and  these  diagrams  will  tell  him  just  what 


EXTRACTS    FROM     CHORDA1/S    LETTERS.  281 

he  wants  to  know.  But  there  he  stops.  The  scale,  the 
logarithms,  the  hyperbolic  lines,  and  isothermal  lines, 
and  adiabatic  lines,  and  doubtful  tables  of  density — 
these  belong  exclusively  to  the  expert,  who,  if  he  doubts 
the  accuracy  of  the  cards  taken  by  the  engine  man, 
may  make  others  for  himself  with  more  delicate  instru- 
ments. If  the  engine  man  happens  to  be  an  expert 
himself,  so  much  the  better.  I  believe  indicators  should 
be  permanently  attached  to  every  engine  of  consider- 
able size,  and  that  the  tender  should  be  skilled  in  their 
use.  This  might  be  bad  for  experts,  but  would  exalt 
their  calling,  which  seems  to  be  what  they  want. 

I  saw  a  couple  of  cards  taken  from  a  high  class 
engine  in  New  York  or  Boston,  I  forget  which,  by  Mr. 
Bacon.  The  first  was  fearful,  and  must  have  suggested 
to  Mr.  Bacon  danger  of  a  coal  famine.  The  second 
was  after  the  valves  had  been  set  where  they  belonged, 
and  was  a  beauty.  I  don't  know  how  much  figuring 
was  done  on  these  cards,  but  a  good  engine  tender  would 
have  looked  upon  them  simply  as  an  indication  that 
his  valve  motion  was  off.  The  makers  of  first-class 
engines  adjust  them  by  indicator  to  the  best  practical 
conditions,  and  the  engineer  could,  with  a  model  card 
in  his  hat,  keep  it  so  forever,  if  he  had  indicators. 

The  common  plan  is  to  let  bankruptcy  approach, 
and  then  send  for  a  scientific  expert  to  do  purely 
mechanical  labor  on  the  engine — labor  which  should 
have  been  done  a  week  after  the  engine  started,  instead 
of  two  years  after.  *  *  *  * 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

OLD     CASTINGS     IN     THE     SHOP.  —  HOW     NEW     TOOLS     ARE 

SUGGESTED. HOW    THEY  OUGHT  TO  BE. COMBINATION 

MACHINES. 

*  *     *     *    If  great  care  is  not  constantly  exercised, 
castings  will  accumulate  around  a  shop.     There  are 
odd  castings  cast  too  often,  castings  acting  as  monu- 
ments of  error,  or  of  folly,  and  stock    castings  made 
from  "old  style"  patterns,  and  therefore  useless.  Invent- 
ory after  inventory  sees  these  castings  weighed  up  at 
standard   price   when,   in    fact,  they    are    only    worth 
the  market  price  of  scrap.     They  will  get  the  best  of 
any  shop,  if  not  systematically  kept   down  to    zero. 
Not     weeded,    mind    you,    but    destroyed    root   and 
branch. 

It  looks  hard,  and  will  cause  pangs,  but  I  unhesitat- 
ingly declare  it  to  be  the  most  economical  plan  to  melt 
up  every  pound  of  casting  not  standard  to-day.  If 
the  design  of  a  machine  is  changed  to-day,  melt  up 
those  castings  which  ceased  to-day  to  be  standard. 
Odd  castings  always  block  the  entry  port  against 
economical  and  labor-saving  system.  If  a  customer 
wants  a  casting,  he  will  pay  for  pattern  and  casting,  but 
if  you  succeed  in  finding  something  approximate,  he 
will  pay  you  for  the  casting,  but  never  a  cent  for  the 
valuable  time  consumed  in  hunting  it  up. 

*  *      *      *      The    practice  of   littering  the  shop 
up  with  useless  scrap  is  not  confined  to  rough-and- 
tumble  shops  in  the  country.      The    finest   tool   and 
locomotive  shops  sometimes  take  the  disease,  and  if  it 
is  not  checked  it  will  invariably  prove  fatal.     Parts  of 
machines  which  are  found  defective  will  always  be  use- 
less, and  are  not  worth  a  day's  shop-room.     Tons  of 
such  stuff  can  be  found  in  many  fine  shops.     Damaged 


EXTRACTS    FfcOM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS.  283 

tools  are  steel  scrap  and  nothing  else.     They  have  no 
proper  place  as  items  in  an  account  of  stock. 

*  *     *     *     Another  tip-top  thing  to  melt  up  is  an 
old  lathe,  or  planer,  or  drill   press.     It  is   not  a  good 
plan  to  save  such  tools  in   remembrance   of  the  good 
they  have  done. 

Many  a  shop  starts  up  with  good,  fresh  tools  adapted 
to  do  the  work  of  the  age.  Time  runs  on;  lots  of  good 
work  is  done;  lots  of  money  is  made;  and  the  tools 
are  wearing  out. 

New  and  enterprising  builders  succeed  in  changing 
the  character  of  popular  demand,  and  the  old  shops 
often  find  that,  in  spite  of  a  splendid  past  record,  their 
products  won't  suit  the  buyers  of  to-day.  They  con- 
demn this  new  generation  of  buyers,  and  finally,  in 
self-defence,  are  compelled  to  change  the  style  of  their 
products  to  suit  the  unreasonable  demand,  and  then 
they  find  that  their  ancient  tools,  while  well  adapted  to 
the  ancient  product,  are  totally  inadequate  to  the  new 
requirements. 

*  *     *     *     I  say  they  find  such  to  be  the  case,  but 
I    doubt    the   general    correctness    of   the    statement. 
They  only  find  that  the  trade  seems  to  have  absorbed 
new  tricks  which  they  fail  to  get  hold  of.     They  are 
proud  of  their  old  skill,  and  look  upon   a  lathe  as  a 
lathe,  and   a  planer  as  a  planer,  and  having  lots  .of 
them  they  don't    see  through  things.      The  compet- 
itive price  list  bothers  them,  and  they  gradually  fall 
into  the  belief   that   the    new   race   of  machine   men 
conduct    business    on    a    reckless    and     unjustifiable 
basis. 

*  *     *     *     A  lathe  is  a  standard  staple  machine, 
always  designed  for  the  same  general  range  of  work, 
but  at  the  same  time  the  ancient  lathe  is  a  much  differ- 
ent tool  from   a  modern    one.      A   modern  lathe  too 
much  played  out  cannot  do  the  work  of  a  lathe  in  good 


284  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

shape.     Old  tools  tend  to  make  old  workmen  out  of 
new  men,  not  in  skill  but  in  habit. 

*  *     *     *    When  a  boy  starts  at  the  trade,  he  buys 
a  four-inch  scale  or  rule  and  carries  it  in  his  pocket. 
In  five  years'  time  he  gets  much  good  out  of  this  nice 
little  tool,  but  gradually  and  surely  it  is  playing  out. 
The  corners  get  rounded  off,  it  gets  red  rust  on  it  and 
he  wipes  it  off;  it  gets  black  rust  on  it  and  he  polishes 
it  off.     This  trick  soon  gets  away  with  the  lines  and 
figures.     He  still  sticks  to  this  old  scale,  and  his  other 
little  tools  will  be  treated   in  the  same  manner.     If  a 
scale  be  used  up,  it  is  not  as  good  as  a  good  one.     If 
the  end  of  a  scale  be  squared  off  on  a  grindstone  to 
bring  the  corners  up  square,  it  is  not  as  good  as  a  good 
one.     If  a  scale  be  used  for  blocking  in  the  tool  post, 
or  under  planer  jobs,  it  will  not  long  stay  as  good  as  a 
good  one. 

*  *     *     *     Now  the  honest  fact  is,  and  few  work- 
men seem  to  find  it  out,  that  a  four-inch  scale  and  all 
such  tools  are  articles  of  consumption.     They  should 
be  replaced  with    new   ones   as  soon  as  their  decay 
becomes  well  set  in.     A  four-inch  scale  should  not  be 
kept  out  of  use  to  make  it  last  longer,  and  it  should 
not  be  kept  in  use  after  its   time  is  out.     Such  a  tool 
should  be  thrown  away  every  six  months  and  a  new 
one  got  in  its  place.     The  expense  of  such  renewals  is 
the  merest  trifle,  and  it  is  well  justified  by  the  fact  that 
it  lets  one  use  good  tools  and  use  them  plentifully. 

*  *     *     *  'This  principle  holds  good  with  lathes  as 
well  as  with    scales.     Other  things  being  equal,  the 
new  shop  with  new  tools  will  generally  scoop  the  old 
shop  with  old  tools;  and  other  things  being  equal,  the 
old  shop  which  is  prompt  in  getting  new  tools,  will 
generally  scoop  the  old  shop  which  thinks  it  can  get 
along  with  tools  whose  good  record  belongs  to  past 
ages. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S     LETTERS.  285 

There  is  time  to  invest  good  dollars  in  good  machine 
tools,  and  there  is  a  proper  time  to  throw  these  same 
tools  into  the  scrap  pile  and  make  good  castings  of 
them.  It  don't  pay  to  belt  them  up  in  some  corner 
and  use  them  for  special  work.  It  don't  pay  to  make 
bolt  cutters,  or  horizontal  drilling  machines,  or  polish- 
ing machines,  out  of  them.  They  should  be  got  out 
of  the  shop  entirely.  Their  very  existence  on  the 
premises  exerts  a  bad  influence,  which  is  simply  one 
element  in  a  concomitant  system. 

*     *     *     *     j^t  one  time  jn   my  iife>  i  formed  the 

habit  of  sorting  things  out  of  the  pile  of  scrap  iron, 
laying  aside  such  as  I  thought  would  work  in  some  job 
someday.  The  "sorted"  pile  became  the  largest,  and 
when  some  job  would  come  along,  which  seemed  to  call 
for  some  of  my  pet  cullings,  I  would  tell  Gus  to  wait 
a  minute  till  I  went  out  and  got  just  the  thing  we 
wanted.  Then  commenced  a  search.  "Am  sure  it's 
there.  Saw  it  not  over  a  year  ago.  Here,  Bill  and 
Mike,  tear  open  that  scrap  pile."  Soon  I  find  it.  "  Told 
you  so;  it  don't  look  as  big  as  I  thought,  but  I  guess 
we  can  make  it  do."  I  figure  on  the  thing,  and  finally 
take  it  to  Gus  with  his  orders.  When  the  job  is  done 
it  is  a  patched  job,  and  weighs  six  pounds.  Castings 
at  five  cents  make  thirty  cents  as  the  value  of  the 
piece  finished  from  the  scrap  pile.  Let's  see  what  it 
cost.  Gus  loafed  an  hour,  and  the  men  worked  an 
hour  on  the  pile,  and  Gus  worked  two  extra  hours 
trying  to  adapt  the  unlucky  "find,"  and  I  staid  by  the 
job  two  hours  extra.  That  makes  a  dollar  and  seventy 
cents  as  the  cost  of  that  chunk,  for  which  I  can  only 
charge  forty  cents  in  the  rough,  for  our  shop  is  a 
jobbing  shop,  and  the  bill  is  made  for  the  rough  cast- 
ing and  for  Gus'  time  only.  Chunks  of  iron  culled 
from  the  scrap  pile  generally  require  an  amount  of 
superintendence,  which  raises  their  cost  to  quadruple 


286  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

the  cost  of  new  castings  from  the  foundry.  Experience 
has  converted  me  often,  and  now  I  refuse  to  abide  on 
the  premises  while  a  "select"  scrap  exists. 

*  *     *     *     js  there  a  machinist  living  who  cannot 
picture  to  himself  the  foreman  hunting  for  a   casting 
— the  occupied  shamble  over  the  interfering  pile,  the 
peculiar  expression  of  conscious   memory,  combined 
with  a  half-despairing  look  of  puzzled  disappointment, 
and,  above  all,  the  inevitable,  loose-jointed,  dirty  two 
foot  rule  ?     *     *     *     * 

*  *     *     *     Every  once  in  a  while  we  see  something 
made  of  wood,  which  has  a  shape  entirely  different 
from  anything  we  have  ever  seen  before.     It  won't  be 
long  after  this  peculiar  shape  reaches  public  view, 
before  some  manufacturer  of  wood-working  machinery 
is  offering  a  machine  to  produce  that  new  shape  in  wood. 

This  manufacturer  does  not  build  the  machine  to 
order,  nor  does  he  design  it  at  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  half  a  dozen  men  who  have  noticed  the  pressing 
need.  He  gets  no  orders,  no  inquiries,  no  hints,  till 
the  machine  is  in  the  market.  If  machine  manufac- 
turers waited  till  there  was  a  demand  for  a  new  form 
of  machine,  they  would  do  little  in  the  way  of  advance,. 

*  *     *     *     AS  a  general  thing,  the  machine  buyer 
is  a  man  who  don't  know  what  he  wants.     He  goes 
into  the  market  to  find  out  what  he  needs,  or  he  acts 
on  the  suggestion  of  some  seller,  who  looks  into  his 
place  and  guesses  his  wants.    The  country  grocer  may 
go  to  town  to  buy  a  heavy  butcher  knife  to  cut  plug 
tobacco   with,  and   may   come   back  with   a   regular 
tobacco-cutting  machine,  made  for  the  purpose,  though 
he  may  never  have  dreamed  there  was  such  a  machine 
If  his  demand  for  it  had  determined  when  it  should 
be  put  in  the  market,  he  would  never  have  seen  it. 

*  *   *     *    Of  course,  almost  any  observant  machine 
builder  can  see  something  every  day,  which  he  knows. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  287 

he  can  build  a  machine  to  produce,  but  judgment  steps 
in  and  tells  him  it  won't  pay  to  build  the  machine. 
Men  get  picked  up  on  too  hasty  action  in  just  such 
things  as  these.  The  idea  of  a  machine  strikes  thern^ 
and  forthwith  they  scheme  the  plan,  and  build  the 
machine,  and  put  it  in  the  market;  and  then  they  of  ten 
find  the  market  don't  want  the  machine.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  good  judgment  entirely,  for  there  is  no  guide 
whatever.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  ante-production 
test.  Many  machines  gotten  up  in  a  routine  sort  of  a 
manner  have  proved  happy  and  profitable  hits,  and 
many  other  machines,  deliberately  planned  to  fill  an 
obvious  vacancy  have  fallen  flat.  One  of  the  fine 
points,  in  machine-making  management,  is  to  know 
when  to  get  up  a  new  machine  and  when  not  to. 

*  *     *     *     Woodworking  machine   builders   are  a 
hundred  times  more  progressive  than  builders  of  ma" 
chine  tools.     With  all  possible  respect  for  our  many 
advanced  tool  builders,  whose  names  I  might  mention, 
I  feel  justified  in  saying  that  it  is  very  seldom  that  one 
of  them  brings  out  a  new  tool.     There  are  two  causes 
which  lead  to  the  new  tool  being  brought  out:  one  is, 
that  they  need  just  such  a  thing  in  their  own  shop, 
and  the  other  is  that  some  customer  ordered  them  to 
get  it  Up.     When  it  comes  to  looking  around  to  see 
what  is  needed,  the  machine-tool  builder  does  precious 
little  of  it. 

*  *     *     *     j  don't  believe  that  the  idea  of  getting 
up  a  lathe  on  purpose  to  turn  car  axles  ever  originated 
in  the  brain  of  a  machine-tool  builder.     Some  railroad 
men  were  probably  looking  around  for  a  tip-top  lathe 
for  the  work,  and  that  suggested  the  whole  thing.     I 
can't  imagine  a  machine-tool  builder  watching  a  com- 
mon lathe  turn  axles,  and  then  drawing  the  conclusion 
that  a  properly  devised  axle  lathe  would  be  a  good 
thing  to  put  in  the  market. 


288      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

The  average  machine-tool  builder  will  travel  all  over 
the  country  and  watch  every  kind  of  metal  industry, 
and  never  take  a  single  hint.  He  will  watch  the  agri- 
cultural implement  industry.  He  sees  work  done  in 
the  most  impossible  manner,  and  hears  a  continuous 
prayer  for  better  methods.  He  watches  the  portable 
engine  business,  and  sees  cylinders  bored  in  a  lathe, 
and  sees  connecting-rod  bodies  and  straps  worked  on 
planers  and  shapers,  and  sees  cylinders  drilled  as  usual 
and  tapped  by  hand.  Then  in  the  steam-pump  shops 
he  sees  cylinders  bored  in  lathes,  and  sees  the  same 
old  drilling  and  tapping.  He  sees  that  this  work  is 
extensively  carried  on,  that  it  is  regular  manufactur- 
ing on  a  large  scale,  but  he  never  draws  a  conclusion. 
He  would  be  most  happy  indeed  to  build  anything 
these  folks  are  kind  enough  to  come  and  order;  but 
building  and  offering  some  new  machine,  which  they 
can't  afford  to  do  without,  never  seems  to  occur  to  him. 

*  *     *     *     Steam-pump   men  and   portable-engine 
men   would  break   their   necks   reaching  for  a   good 
machine  to  drill  and  tap  their  cylinders.     If  they  want 
such  a  thing  they  must  invent  it,  design  it,  and  go  to  a 
machine-tool  shop  and  have  the  thing  criticised  as  a 
machine  not  vproperly  gotten  up. 

The  machine-tool  shops  don't  do  any  cylinder  tap- 
ping, and,  as  a  consequence,  will  never  originate  a 
machine  for  the  work.  A  machine-tool  builder  don't 
have  much  taper  keyseating  to  do  if  he  understands 
his  business,  and,  as  a  consequence,  he  will  never  bring 
out  the  little  machine  needed  for  that  work  in  nearly 
every  shop  in  the  country. 

*  *     *     *     Qne  Of  the  modern  frauds  in  machine 
construction  is  the  combination  machine — a  machine 
combining  within  itself  the  capacity  for  doing  the  work 
of  two  classes  of  machines.    Such  combinations  are  apt 
to  involve  opposing  features  of  sufficient  and   insuffi- 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  289 

cient  strength.  Some  years  ago,  some  party  put  a 
combined  lathe  and  milling  machine  on  the  market. 
It  was  a  common  lathe  with  a  milling  machine  built  on 
the  left  hand  end.  The  combination  consisted  in  using 
the  lathe  arbor  for  the  milling-machine  spindle,  and 
vice  versa.  When  you  did  lathe  work  the  milling 
machine  was  idle;  and  when  you  did  milling,  the  lathe 
was  idle.  When  you  used  one  machine,  you  were 
working  on  an  investment  nearly  large  enough  co  get 
two  full-blooded  machines  instead  of  one  mongrel. 
Such  a  combination  is  bound  to  make  a  very  poor 
average  of  speeds,  strengths  and  movements,  and  you 
have  to  get  a  combined  sort  of  workman  to  run  it. 

*  *     *     *     Some  combined  or  universal  machines 
are  made  comprehensive  enough  to  turn  clothes  pins 
in  the  winter,  and  do  brick  work  in  the  summer. 

The  changes  in  capacity  and  nature  are  often  made 
by  adding  separate  fixtures,  which  are  laid  away  when 
not  in  use.  Aside  from  the  main  fault,  this  involves 
several  bad  things.  The  machine  is  not  ready  for 
business  just  when  it  is  wanted.  On  miscellaneous 
work  this  is  a  grave  fault.  You  only  want  a  certain 
operation  carried  on  for  a  few  minutes,  maybe,  and  if 
you  can't  get  it  when  you  want  it,  you  don't  want  it  at 
all.  How  often  we  see  some  man  take  some  trifling 
job  to  a  machine,  and,  finding  the  belt  broken,  or 
things  gummed  up  generally,  finally  finish  it  by  hand, 
or  by  some  other  foreign  process  ! 

*  *     *     *     jn   some  universal  machines,  the  time 
required  to  rig  up  some  converting  part  of  it  is  more 
than  would  be  required  to  do  the  job  without  the  ma- 
chine. 

It  is  in  the  nature  of  a  workman  to  hate  to  fuss  with" 
something  extra,  when  he  would  rather  be  doing 
something  on  the  job  in  hand.  How  often  we  see  a 
lathesman  working  on  a  job  bolted  to  a  face  plate  in 


2pO  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

an  insecure  and  shaky  manner.  If  he  takes  a  big  cut, 
the  whole  thing  will  tumble  down,  and  he  knows  it. 
He  could  stop  and  rechuck  his  job,  and  go  into  it  for 
all  it  is  worth,  but  he  don't  want  to.  He  prefers  to 
take  tender,  nibbling  cuts  on  the  uncertain  thing,  be- 
cause he  is  cutting  iron  all  the  time. 

*  *     *     *     Qdd  fixtures    and    attachments    lying 
around  the  shop  are  never  in  condition  to  use.     They 
get  dirty,  and  jammed,  and  broken,  and  in  many  cases 
they  are  remodeled  to  use  for  something  else.    Every 
machinist  knows  what  sort  of  a  thing  an  odd  com- 
pound lathe  rest  is,  and  he  knows  what  becomes  of 
the  two  jaw  chuck,  which  is  only  wanted  once  a  year. 
When  the  year  comes  around,  and  you  take  a  look  at 
the  chuck,  you  conclude  that  you  don't  want  it  at  all. 
The  common  steady  rest  is  a  fair  sample  of  neglect 
from  inconstant  use.      Planer  centers  in  the  country 
shop  furnish  another  sample. 

A  combined  slotter  and  drilling  machine  makes  a 
happy  family.  If  both  are  efficient  tools,  the  combi- 
nation is  too  expensive  for  a  tool  which  can  only  do 
the  day  work  of  one  machine.  The  most  likely  thing 
in  such  a  combination  is,  that  the  slotter  will  become 
weak  and  the  drill  clumsy. 

*  *     *     *     Some  inventor  filed  an  application  in 
the  patent  office  for  a  patent  on  a  combined  washing 
machine  and  churn.     The  thing  made  the  rounds  of 
the  rooms,  and   each  examiner  indorsed  his  opinion 
on  the  document.      One  examiner  wrote  as  follows  : 
"You  may  clean  out  and  scald  this  churn  if  you  will, 
but  the  smell  of  the  linen  will  hang  round  it  still." 

*  *     *     *     The   greatest   and   main    objection    to 
universal  machines  is  the  idle  investment  and  great 
cost  of  short  jobs  on  them.     In  a  machine  with,  say, 
twelve  capacities,  you   invest  the  price   of  about  six 
machines,  and  really  get  the  ten  hour  use  of  but  one, 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 


291 


[n  household  implements,  not  running  at  a  continual 
expense,  and  in  which  you  change  the  function  by 
grabbing  the  other  end,  a  universal  combination 
seems  proper.  It  saves  search  after  many  separate 
utensils,  saves  room,  and  saves  expense;  but  as  soon 
as  an  implement  gets  into  continuous  motion,  under 
the  charge  of  a  paid  attendant,  the  combination  feat- 
ure seems  to  be  a  mistaken  virtue 


392      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER     XXXIV. 

ARRANGING  MACHINE  SHOP  FLOORS. METHODS  OF  FINISH- 

*NG    WORK. OUR    ARTIST    SKETCHES  A  COMMON  BOILER 

FRONT. 

What  do  you  know  about  macnine  snop  noors  ?  When 
the  good  manager  bunas  nis  snop,  ne  snows  on  a  plan 
the  proposed  position  of  every  machine.  Maybe  he 
don't  intend  to  get  these  machines  right  away,  but  he 
makes  his  calculations  for  them,  and  when  they  do 
come,  he  can  put  them  in  a  place  reserved  for  them. 

But  one  thing  he  cannot  do,  and  that  is  to  put  in  all 
his  foundations  before  his  floors  are  laid.  No  man 
living  can  predicate  a  foundation  for  a  lathe,  or  a  planer, 
or  any  other  machine  tool.  Some  tool  makers  even 
cannot  furnish  a  foundation  plan  till  they  have  the 
machine  built. 

Then  again  the  good  manager  never  gets  the  tools 
he  first  intended  to  get.  His  experience  in  the  shop 
causes  him  to  alter  his  mind,  or  he  sees  some  machine, 
in  the  meantime,  which  takes  his  eye,  or  he  finds  out 
that  the  machine  he  had  in  his  mind  is  not  just  what 
he  thought  it  was. 

*  *  *  *  When  a  new  lathe,  or  planer,  or  drill, 
or  slotter  comes  into  the  shop,  there  is  always  a  worry 
about  where  to  put  it.  Sometimes  the  thing  is  settled 
by  putting  it  in  the  best-looking  vacant  spot  in  the 
shop;  say  in  the  middle  of  the  setting-up  floor.  Again 
it  will  be  put  in  among  a  lot  of  machines  of  an  entirely 
different  character.  This  often  leads  to  small  machines 
for  light  work  being  set  in  among  heavy  tools,  whose 
big  work  can  be  got  to  them  by  cranes,  tracks,  &c. 
Sometimes  the  whole  question  is  settled  by  the  conven- 
ience of  locating  a  countershaft. 

The  new  tool  calls  for   a    certain  amount  of  floor 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  293 

room,  and  a  certain  amount  of  ceiling  room,  properly 
located  with  reference  to  the  floor  room.  When  the 
spots  have  been  found,  and  the  machines  set  up,  it  is 
often  found  that  the  question  of  daylight  has  been  left 
out  of  consideration;  that  the  daylight  comes  in  the 
wrong  direction,  or  that  it  don't  come  at  all. 

*  *     *     *     Some  men,  when  a  tool  is  added  to  the 
shop,  are  smart  enough  to  look  into  all  the  require- 
ments.  This  often  leads  to  a  total  reorganization  of  the 
shop;  a  general  twisting  around  of  things;  the  moving 
of  this  lathe  and  that  one,  and  that  planer,  and  this 
shaper,  and  both  those  slotters,  and  maybe  half  a  dozen 
more. 

*  *     *     *     When  the  shop  is  run  by  such  a  man, 
the  said  shop  is  liable  to  get  turned  upside  down  every 
time  a  new  tool  is  bought.     He  is  probably  reorganiz- 
ing six  months  out  of  the  year,  and  when  a  lathesman 
goes  home  at  night,  he  don't  know  what  part  of  the 
premises  he  will  find  his  lathe  in  when  he  comes  to 
work  in  the  morning. 

*  *     *     *     The  shop  under   such   management  is 
almost  always  a  nice  appearing  and  convenient  shop, 
if  you  can   spy  into  it  some  day  when  it  isn't  being 
reorganized.     *     *     *     * 

This  kind  of  business  don't  pay  very  well,  for  it  is 
my  experience  in  machine  shops  that  you  can't  get 
much  work  out  while  the  line  shaft  is  being  moved,  or 
lengthened  out,  or  raised  or  slid  endwise,  or  while  half 
the  countershafts  are  on  the  floor,  or  while  the  floor  is 
half  ripped  up. 

*  *  Aside  from  other  inconveniences  attend- 
ing the  arrival  of  the  new  machine,  the  floor  work  is 
enough  to  call  for  resolutions  of  reform. 

If  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  the  new  machine,  both 
on  the  floor  and  on  the  ceiling,  and  if  there  is  plenty 
of  daylight  coming  from  the  right  direction,  and  if  the 


2p4  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

aforesaid  spaces  are  in  exactly  the  right  location,  still 
the  job  of  putting  the  tool  in  place  is  a  demoralizing 
one. 

There  must  be  scientific  sighting,  and  measuring, 
and  chalking  on  the  floor,  and  the  floor  must  be  torn 
up,  and  diggers  must  excavate  and  pile  the  dirt  out  in 
the  shop,  and  mules  and  drays  find  their  way  into  the 
shop,  hauling  out  the  dirt  and  hauling  in  the  stone. 
And  then  the  masons  work  awhile,  and  then  the  floor 
gets  put  down,  and  then  the  machine  gets  set,  and 
belted  up,  and  started.  Maybe  there  has  been  a  slight 
mistake  somewhere,  and  the  machine  does  not  stand 
on  the  foundation  at  all;  but  that  makes  no  difference, 
of  course.  It  is  so  desirable  to  get  this  job  over,  that 
a  matter  of  a  foot  or  so  in  the  matching  of  things  can- 
not be  considered. 

*  *     *     *     Some  men  point  with  pride  to  a  floor 
which  is  foundation  all  over,  so  that  they  don't  have 
to  tear  up,  and  dig,  and   build,  etc.     This  is  all  very 
nice,  but  if  it  means  a  brick  floor  for  a  machine  shop, 
I,  for  one,  can  stand  the  digging. 

If  anybody  can  show  up  some  kind  of  decent  floor, 
which  rests  directly  on  bottom,  solid  enough  to  carry 
heavy  tools  properly,  I  wish  he  would  unfold  himself. 

*  *     *     *     I  have  seen  floors  built  right  in  well- 
packed    earth,  and    no   foundations  were   needed  for 
ordinary  shop  tools,  but  I  have  noticed  that  the  floors 
are  always  rotting  out  and  smelling  bad. 

If  such  floors  would  last  and  be  healthy,  they  would 
be  just  the  thing  for  ordinary  shops. 

The  fact  that  once  in  a  while  some  tools  require  a 
pit,  need  not  detract  from  the  virtues  of  the  floor. 
Much  better  to  dig  two  or  three  pits  than  forty  or  fifty. 

*  *     *     *     I  once  worked  with  a  genius  who  had 
put  a  common  floor  in  his  shop — an  awfully  common 
9ne,  in  fact,   It  was  on  12"  joists,  and  was  open  enough 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS.  295 

in  some  places  to  let  a  small  monkey-wrench  through. 
I  don't  suppose  there  was  a  square  foot  of  that  floor 
which,  at  some  time,  some  workman  had  not  torn  up  in 
order  to  recover  a  scale,  or  a  pair  of  calipers,  or  a 
chisel,  or  a  job,  or  something. 

Under  each  machine  there  were  two  or  three  loose 
trap  doors,  and  all  the  chips  and  other  hard  accumu- 
lations of  the  shop  wcre(  shoveled  into  these  holes. 

This  would  be  pretty  expensive  in  some  localities, 
but  at  that  place  this  stuff  had  no  value. 

In  course  of  time,  there  was  a  heavy  stratum  of  hard 
iron  under  the  floor  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  ma- 
chines. Care  was  taken  to  flush  all  parts  up  nicely, 
and  then  the  traps  were  nailed  down.  Then  traps 
were  put  in  other  parts  of  the  shop,  the  intention 
being  to  put  solid  iron  under  the  entire  floor.  When 
a  section  was  well  filled  and  set,  a  good  floor  was  laid, 
and  it  was  able  to  stand  up  under  any  machine  likely 
to  be  set  upon  it. 

This  all  looked  very  well,  but  I  should  hardly  fancy 
the  job  of  excavating  a  pit  in  this  floor  for  a  long- 
spindled  boring  mill. 

*  *     *     *     There   may   be   some   kind    of   a   floor 
which  will  endure,  and  be  neat  and  healthy,  and  which 
will  do  to  set  machine  tools  on  without  any  underpin- 
ning or  foundations.    If  there  is,  I  should  like  to  know 
what  sort  of.  thing  it  is. 

*  *     *     *     i  am  informed  that  English  law  makes 
real  estate  out  of   anything   attached  to  a  building. 
Thus,  if  you  rent  an   empty  factory,  and   fill  it  with 
machinery  which  you  bolt  to  the  floor,  the  machinery 
so  bolted  becomes  a  contribution  and  a  part  and  par- 
cel of  the  premises,  and  is  not  to  be  removed  by  you 
when  your  lease  is  up.     This  condition  of  law  has  led 
to  the  contriving  of  a  plan  to  get  around  it.     Instead 
of  bolting  your  machines  to  the  floor,  you  bolt  them 


296  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 

to  shoes  previously  bolted  to  the  floor.  When  you  buy 
a  new  machine,  it  comes  with  these  shoes  on  its  feet. 
You  fix  the  shoes  to  the  floor,  and  then  fix  the  machine 
to  the  shoes.  When  you  clear  out,  you  take  your 
machines,  but  leave  the  shoes  as  a  souvenir  of  your 
respect  for  the  law. 

*  *     *     *     In    European   shops   paved    floors   are 
common;  so  are  steam  engines  and  drilling  machines 
attached  to  the  walls  of  the  building;  and  so  is  "  lay- 
ing off "  on   Saturday,  and  sobering  up   on    Monday. 
The  absence  of  all  washing  conveniences,  too,  is  uni- 
versal in  English  shops. 

Europe  has  plenty  of  machine-shop  ideas  which  we 
would  do  well  to  filch,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  we 
will  never  import  the  above-mentioned  features. 

*  *     *     *     When  I  was  out  at  the  Millers'  Exposi- 
tion, I  heard  machinists  talking  about  the  nickel-plated 
work  on  the  Whcelock  and  Brown  engines.     I  did  the 
same  thing  myself  at  the  American  Institute  in  1876. 
The  finish  was  so  far  beyond  my  own  understanding 
of  things,  that  I  supposed,  of  course,  it  was  plated.     I 
afterwards  satisfied  myself,  that  what  I  saw  was  iron 
with  a  good  finish  on  it. 

Almost  every  lathesman  understands  that  finish  is 
simply  a  nice  arrangement  of  scratches.  He  knows 
that  he  can  file  big  scratches  out  of  a  job,  if  he  is  lucky 
enough  not  to  file  a  few  bigger  ones  in;  and  that  he 
can  use  a  finer  file  and  get  the  scratches  still  finer; 
and  that  he  can  take  emery  clamps  and  grind  the 
scratches  still  finer.  Here  he  generally  ends,  and  his 
finish  is  nothing  to  compare  with  the  fine  work  stuck 
right  under  his  nose  every  day.  He  sees  work  in  which 
the  scratches  are  so  fine  that  he  can't  see  them  at  all. 
He  wants  to  know  how  the  fellow  who  did  this  job 
managed  to  get  big  scratches  out  and  to  get  such  little 
scratches  in.  Such  finish  as  this  is  real  polish.  It 


Iwish^  for  my  special  amusement,  you  would  send  an  artist  out  into  the 
world  with  instructions  to  bring  back  a  good  sketch  of  a  common  boiler 
front. — Page  299. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.      299 

isn't  a  temporary  polish  put   on    top    of  a  wretched 
finish. 

*  *   *  *  Proprietors  are  interested  in  this  question  of 
finish.    They  want  their  work  finished,  but  they  have  an 
idea  that  it  costs  too  much  money.    The  fact  is,  that  it 
don't  cost  much,  not  as  much,  hardly,  as  common  finish. 
It  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  high-finish  shops  can  get 
away  with  other  shops  on  prices.   There  are,  of  course, 
other  reasons  for  this;  but  it  shows  that  finish  does 
not  conflict  directly  with  cheapness. 

The  real  truth  is,  that  in  certain  shops  the  men 
know  how  to  put  a  finish  on  work  and  the  expense  is 
nothing.  In  other  shops,  doing  tip-top  work,  the  men 
don't  seem  to  know  anything  about  it,  and  any  attempt 
that  way  may  involve  discouraging  expense. 

*  *      *     *     I  wish,  for  my  special  amusement,  you 
would  send  an  artist  out  into  the  world  with  instruc- 
tions to  bring  back  a  good  sketch  of  a  common  boiler 
front.     By  common,  I  mean  the  kind  one  is  most  apt 
to  see.     I  want  to  see  a  picture  of  an  ordinary  boiler 
front  alongside  one  that  you  lately  gave  a  view,  of . 
I  know  a  lot  of  high-toned  mechanics  or  engineers,  or 
what  not,  who  would  take  a  fit  if  they  should  see  that 
front. 

*  *     *     *     These  men  have  got  it  into  their  heads 
that  every  line  and  every  pound  of  metal  about  any- 
thing made  of  iron,  should  serve  some  useful  purpose. 
These  are  the  men  who  make  the  outside  of  a  machine 
the  same  shape  as  the  inside  of  the  core  boxes  ;  the 
same  men  who  speak  of  polish  as  a  thing  of  utility 
only;  the  same  men  who  paint  things  lead  colored  and 
call  it  steel  color;  men  who  never  find  out  how  to  do 
work  economically,  and  find  themselves  compelled  to 
leave  all  the  nice  things  off  in  order  to  get  the  expens- 
ive product  into  the  market. 

*  -  *    *    *     The  very  appearance  of  this  fancy  boiler 


300  EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS. 

front  shows  that  care,  thought,  skill,  knowledge  and 
time  have  been  expended  in  its  design.  A  design  thus 
treated  is  bound  to  be  based  on  good,  practical  prin- 
ciples. If  there  is  some  peculiarly  good  point  at  which 
the  grates  should  be  set,  I  should  look  for  a  demon- 
stration of  the  fact  in  a  boiler  front  which  looks  as 
though  it  had  been  studied  over.  If  there  is  a  bad, 
warpy  disposition  in  boiler  fronts,  this  matured  affair 
is  apt  to  have  been  designed  to  avoid  the  defect. 

*  *     *     *     Really  nice   things   are    seldom   badly 
designed.      It  is  in  the  coarser  and  more  serviceable 
materials,  purely  "  functional  apparel,"  that  we  are  apt 
to  see  misfits.     Good  looks  tend  to  better  every  thing 
around.     There  is  no  nobler  use  for  iron  than  that  of 
ornamentation,  and,  like  all  good  things,  ornamenta- 
tion costs  money.    Beautifying  a  boiler  front  is  just  as 
reasonable  and  proper  and  elevating  as  beautifying  a 
pier  glass,  or  a  book  case,  or  a  cornice.     I  have  known 
of  an  artist  being  called  on  to  design  a  paper  collar 
for  a  chimney  stack,  which,  when  done,  was  a  thing  of 
beauty,  and   real,  honest,  human  utility,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  the  base  of  that  beautiful  stack  stood  near 
a  boiler  front  so  infernally  ugly,  that  the  furnace  walls 
bulged  out  and  staid  bulged  out.    I  can't  imagine  such 
a  thing  happening  with  a  nice  front. 

*  *     *     *     Tne  separation  of  beauty  from  utility 
in  design  has  led  to  the  entire  separation  of  the  arts, 
and  now-a-days  the  designer  is  simply  either  an  artist 
or,  what  is  worse,  an  engineer.     As   a  consequence, 
certain  ugly  things  of  real  utility  come  from  the  engi- 
neer, and  certain  pretty  things  of  no  utility  come  from 
the  artist. 

*  *     *     *     j   once  negotiated  at   a   good  jewelry 
house  for  a  pair  of  sleeve  buttons.    They  were  elegant, 
but  a  little  investigation  showed  that  the  stems  were 
not  long   enough  to  admit  two  thicknesses   of  cuff; 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.      30! 

they  were  not  worth  five  cents  for  the  purpose  in- 
tended. All  the  lines  of  these  things  had  probably 
been  fixed  by  some  light-headed  artist,  who  knew 
nothing  of  utility,  and  didn't  want  to  mix  it  up  in  his 
occupation.  He  is  as  bad  as  the  engineer  or  designer 
who  leaves  beauty  out  of  his  work. 

*  *     *     *     Once  upon  a  time  I  went  into  partner- 
ship with  an  artist.     We  had  invented  a  draw  handle 
or  pull,  which   possessed  functions  not   necessary  to 
explain.     It  was  a  question  of  design   and  patterns. 
There  is  no  art  about  me,  and  I  simply  measured  my 
own  paw,  and  thus  determined  the  proper  length  of 
the  handle.     This  dimension,  embodied  in  a  sketch  of 
the  mere  essentials  of  the  device,  constituted  my  con- 
tribution to  the  design.    I  turned  it  over  to  my  artistic 
partner  to  put  it  into  good  form.    He  said  at  once  that 
the  thing  was  too  big  to  look  well,  and  wanted  to  con- 
tract it  for  beauty's  sake,  and  he  stuck  to  it,  too.     We 
argued  and  fussed  and  quarreled  over  that  miserable 
little  drawer  handle  for  a  week,  and  then  quit.     The 
thing  was  never  made. 

*  *     *     *     I   Was   attracted    by  that  boiler  front, 
because  I  have  been  brought  up  on  ugly  fronts  of  my 
own  design.          When  I  see  pictures  of  old  machinery, 
I  am  glad   I  was  born  after  the  Corinthian  order  of 
architecture  was  abandoned   in  design,  and,  when   I 
look  at  my  own  work,  I  am   sorry  I  was  born  before 
dead  work  and  lead-colored  paint  were  abandoned. 


302  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

SACKETT'S  EXPERIENCE  WITH  A  TITLED  ENGINEER. — PER- 
SONAL IDENTITY  OF  BENNETT,  SACKETT  AND  WVCOFF. 

SHOP  DRAWINGS    AND  SYMBOLISM.  —  TRAMPING    JOURS. 

STARTING    NEW    SHOPS. — CHORDAL    AS    A    PILGRIM. 

*  Sackett  lately  employed  a  new  man  ;  a 
man  with  testimonials  ;  a  man  who  had  taken  two  or 
three  degrees  ;  a  man  who  had  a  college's  authority 
for  writing  C.  E.  after  his  name  ;  a  man  who  was  no 
civil  engineer  after  all.  He  was  not  smart  ;  he  was 
simply  learned.  He  had  no  knowledge  ;  he  had  sim- 
ply education.  Judgment  cannot  be  based  on  educa- 
tion ;  it  must  be  based  on  knowledge.  This  C.  E.  had 
no  knowledge  and  no  judgment.  He  was  a  nice  man, 
and  a  learned  one,  and  a  C.  E.,  but  Sackett  bid  him 
good  bye  after  three  weeks'  knowledge  of  him.  I 
don't  know  who  wants  such  men.  Sackett  says  he 
don't,  and  I  know  for  a  certainty  that  Wycoff  don't. 

*  *  *  *  When  Sackett  told  me  of  his  experience  • 
with  this  man  (he  was  no  youth  just  out  of  college, 
mind  you,  but  an  old  hand,  if  he  was  a  weak  one)  our 
conversation  naturally  turned  on  titles.  I  mentioned 
that  I  had  read,  in  several  places,  that  C.  E.,  &c.,  could 
be  rightfully  affixed  to  a  name  only  atter  permission 
had  been  conferred  by  some  educational  or  similar 
body  ;  and  that  others  assuming  such  titles  did  h  for 
the  purpose  of  leading  to  the  inference  that  they  had 
such  formal  right  to  it ;  and  that  merit  alone  would 
seldom  tempt  a  fair-minded  man  to  appropriate  such 
a  title. 

"  Bosh  !  "  said  Sackett,  "  the  writers  of  such  stuff 
don't  know  exactly  what  they  are  talking  about.  An 
engineer  is  a  man  who  has  had  the  title  conferred  on 
him,  whether  he  is  an  engineer  or  not ;  or  he  is  a  mnn 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  303 

who  is  an  engineer,  whether  he  has  had  the  title  con- 
ferred upon  him  or  not.  Both  these  men  have  a  right 
to  the  title,  and  either  should  blush  to  take  it  if  not 
properly  endowed.  Even  if  conferred  by  a  college, 
the  conferree  should  hesitate  before  he  accepts  such  a 
vocative  title  as  engineer.  M.  D.  at  the  end  of  a  man's 
name  indicates  that  he  is  a  doctor  of  medicine.  Doc- 
tor is  a  word  with  a  meaning  not  at  all  analogous  to 
surgeon,  or  physician,  even.  No  college,  or  course, 
can  make  a  man  a  surgical  man,  even  though  they 
endow  him  with  the  title  of  surgeon. 

"  F.  R.  S.  is  not  a  vocative  title.  It  can  only  be 
properly  conferred  by  the  Royal  Society,  and  after 
they  confer  it,  the  man  is  a  fellow  of  that  society.  Ph. 
D.  means  that  a  man  has  received  the  title,  and  not 
that  he  is  in  reality  a  doctor  of  philosophy.  Engineer 
or  C.  E.  at  the  end  of  a  man's  name,  indicates  that  the 
man  has  an  engineer's  title,  or  an  engineer's  vocation. 

"  It  is  not  a  sure  indication,  because  the  man  may  be  a 
fraud.  He  may  not  be  an  engineer  at  all,  and  he  may 
never  have  taken  a  degree.  I  have  got,"  continued 
Sackett,  "two  captains  and  one  major  working  out  in 
my  foundry.  They  have  no  ri^ht  to  the  title,  because 
they  never  had  it  conferred  by  any  proper  authority, 
and  they  never  fulfilled  the  functions  the  title  would 
indicate.  If  they  saw  fit  to  write  moulder,  or  sand 
rammer  after  their  names,  they  would  be  right,  even 
if  there  was  such  a  courtesy  title,  because  the  word  is 
vocative.  I  have  a  designer  upstairs  who  has  a  right 
to  put  M.  E.  after  his  name,  because  he  is  a  mechani- 
cal engineer  and  a  good  one,  though  he  has  no  diplo- 
ma ;  and  he  has  a  right  to  put  M.  D.  after  his  name, 
because  he  has  studied  medicine,  and  has  a  diploma. 
He  is  a  good  engineer  and  no  physician." 

*  *  *  *  j  triec|  to  finc[  out  from  Sackett  what 
had  been  the  trouble  with  his  late  C.  E.,  but  I  failed 


304      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

to  get  anything  bat  indefinite  grumbling.  I  gravely 
suspect  that  the  aforesaid  C.  E.  had  been  trying  to 
rush  some  "correct  mechanical  principle  "  into  Sack- 
ett's  work,  without  regard  to  the  expense  or  propriety 
of  it  ;  and  that  some  of  this  "  principle  "  had  failed  to 
operate,  and  has  consequently  got  Sackett  into  trouble. 

*  *  *  *  j  gOt  a  letter  yesterday  from  one  of  the 
best  machine  shop  managers  in  the  United  States,  ask- 
ing who  Sackett  is,  and  stating  that  he  would  like  to 
form  his  acquaintance.  I  could  not  give  the  party 
Mr.  Sackett's  post-office  address,  but  gave  him  the  ad- 
dress of  one  of  his  shops  instead.  Another  gentleman 
wrote  me,  asking  where  Bennett's  shop  is.  Few  men 
enquire  about  Wycoff.  I  wish  to  take  this  occasion  to 
answer  all  such  inquiries. 

If  you  want  to  see  Bennett's  shop,  you  will  have  to 
travel  in  several  different  directions,  for  his  shop  is 
scattered.  His  foundry  is  in  one  state,  his  machine 
shop  in  another,  his  line  shaft  in  another,  his  pattern 
shop  in  another,  and  his  excellent  intention  of  doing 
something  to  keep  castings  from  littering  up  the  ma- 
chine shop  is  in  several  states,  principally  in  a  state  of 
uncertainty.  When  the  elements  of  Bennett's  shop 
are  combined  in  one  geographical  section,  I  want  to 
be  on  hand  at  the  opening. 

Sackett  and  Wycoff  are  men  who  are  ubiquitous  in 
different  proportions.  I  would  describe  Wycoff  as  a 
good-looking  gentleman  of  almost  any  age,  a  good 
and  lively  citizen,  a  man  tolerably  well  fixed  in  the 
world,  a  pleasant  man  to  meet,  no  specially  bad  social 
qualities,  and  a  very  numerous  and  short-sighted  ma- 
chine shop  manager.  I  would  describe  Sackett  as  a 
good-looking  gentleman  of  almost  any  age,  a  good  and 
lively  citizen,  a  man  tolerably  well  fixed  in  the  world, 
a  pleasant  man  to  meet,  no  specially  bad  social  quali- 
ties, and  a  very  long-sighted  machine  shop  manager. 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS.  305 

If  I  should  show  you  their  portraits,  they  would  look 
much  more  alike  than  two  pieces  of  some  of  the  inter- 
changeable machine  work  we  often  hear  about.  Out- 
side the  shop  you  can  only  distinguish  them  by  the 
relative  increase  in  their  wealth,  and  that  of  their  em- 
ployes. Inside  the  shop  they  are  readily  distinguished. 

The  front  of  the  shop  tells  whose  shop  it  is.  If  you 
see  any  old,  rusty,  odd  bevel  gears  half  buried  in  the 
earth  before  the  shop,  or  behind  it,  either,  it  is  Wycoff's 
shop  every  time. 

They  come  from  different  lines  of  ancestry,  but  have 
traveled  the  world  together.  Their  ancestors  dis- 
covered the  new  world  as  they  sailed  together.  One 
furnished  the  reckless  daring,  the  willing  muscle,  and 
the  devil-may-care  readiness  to  go  I  don't  know  where; 
while  the  other  brought  the  cool  head,  the  definite 
intention,  the  best  attainable  chart,  the  compass,  the 
glass,  and  a  brave,  prudent  energy. 

I  know  little  or  nothing  of  drawing,  but  I 
have  given  much  attention  to  the  subject  of  drawings. 
This  may  look  like  a  narrow  point  of  difference,  but  it 
is  as  broad  as  the  difference  between  product  and  pro- 
cess. My  attention  has  been  given  to  machine  shop 
drawings  ;  not  to  the  art  of  making  them,  but  to  the 
desirable  points  in  them  after  they  are  made  and  be- 
fore they  are  made. 

*  *     *     *     The  machine  shop  drawing  is  simply  a 
memorandum,  showing  what  is  to  be  produced.     It  is 
essentially  an  illustrated  memorandum,  or  it  would  be 
no  drawing.     To  be  perfect,  it  should  answer  all  ques- 
tions which  a  workman  can  reasonably  ask  in  regard 
to  the  piece  of  work  ;  it  should  be  durable  enough  to 
form    a   record   for   future   use  ;    it   should  be  small 
enough  to  be  easily  preserved  in  a  safe  place,  and  it 
should  be  as  low  in  cost  as  possible. 

*  *     *     *     A  drawing  should  be  complete,  for  a 


306  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

drawing  which  requires  explanation  from  a  draughts- 
man is  no  drawing  at  all.  Instead  of  being  the  work- 
man's memorandum,  such  a  drawing  is  simply  a 
draughtsman's  memorandum,  and  if  he  is  not  present, 
the  drawing  fails  in  its  mission. 

Drawings  for  use  in  the  shop,  right  at  the  draughts- 
man's elbow,  should  be  so  complete  and  self-explain- 
ing that  they  could  be  sent  a  thousand  miles  away 
without  a  word  of  explanation,  and  enable  properly- 
skilled  men  to  execute  the  work  as  well  as  the  man 
who  can  confer  with  the  man  that  made  the  drawing. 
It  requires  no  more  artistic  skill  to  make  a  self-ex- 
plaining  drawing  than  it  does  to  make  a  drawing 
of  which  the  draughtsman  is  an  essential  part. 

*  *     *     *     T^   mechanics   of   the  shop,    such    as 
have   to   do   with    the   drawings,  are   pattern-makers, 
blacksmiths,    boiler-makers,    wood-workers,    painters 
and  packers.     The  drawing  is  the  record  of  results  to 
be  accomplished  by  all  these  men,  and  properly-made 
drawings  should   tell  all  these  men  what  the  ultimate 
result   is   to   be,  and    should    iot    contain  any  blank 
hints  that  will  lead  you  to  ask  questions  till  you  find 
out  what  is  wanted. 

*  *     *     *     Drawings  are  destroyed  by  being  torn, 
broken,  defaced,  faded,  or  lost.     Durability  is  secured 
by  making  them  so  they  can't  be  torn,  broken,  defaced, 
faded,  and  so  forming  them  that  they  are  not  liable  to 
get  lost. 

A  paper  drawing,  as  a  record  for  continued  future 
use,  has  no  place  in  a  machine  shop.  It  gets  defaced 
in  a  short  time,  gets  torn  in  a  short  time,  and,  frag- 
ment by  fragment,  it  gets  lost.  They  do  not  last  long 
enough  to  fade.  They  should  never  be  used  in  ma- 
chine shops,  except  on  such  work  as  permit  the  draw- 
ing to  be  destroyed  as  soon  as  the  job  is  finished. 

Tracing  cloth  is  but  little  better  than  paper.     It  gets 


EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS.  307 

soiled  and  broken,  and  requires  a  clumsy  process  of 
unfolding  or  unrolling  before  it  can  be  consulted,  and 
even  then,  it  will  not  lie  flat.  These  tracings  are  ex- 
pensive because  they  imply  a  total  unnecessary  dupli- 
cation of  the  draughtsman's  work.  They  cannot  be 
distinguished  or  designated  when  rolled,  and  time  is 
lost  in  going  through  a  cord  of  them  to  find  the  right 
one.  If  rolled,  they  will  not  store  away  in  some  ac- 
cessible and  compact  shape,  and  if  folded,  they  are 
constantly  liable  to  bs  mislaid  or  lost. 

The  machine-shop  drawing  should  always  be  flat, 
and  it  should  be  made  a  penitentiary  offense  to 
roll  or  fold  it.  . 

*  *     *     *     if  a  paper  drawing  is  glued  on  a  board, 
it  ceases,  as  we  are  speaking  of  it,  to  be  a  paper  draw- 
ing.    It  then  becomes  a  wooden  drawing,  and   it  has 
many  superior  virtues.     You  can't  roll  it  ;  you  can't 
fold  it  ;  it  lies  flat ;  it  is  always  open  :  and  some  des- 
ignating character,  conspicuously  placed  upon  it,  Will 
tell  if  it  is  the  one  wanted,  and  it  is  not  liable  to  get 
lost.     Numerous  coats  of  hard  varnish  will  secure  du- 
rability of  surface. 

The  objections  to  the  Wooden  drawing  are:  It  is 
thick,  and  a  number  of  them  composing  a  set  will  not 
pack  closely  ;  if  of  any  size,  battens  must  be  put  on 
the  back  to  prevent  splitting,  which  makes  them  still 
bulkier,  and  prevents  their  being  moved  over  each 
other  in  a  search  ;  they  are  very  heavy  ;  and  are  alto- 
gether so  large  and  clumsy  that  no  safe  preservation 
can  be  given  very  many  of  them.  They  also  cost  too 
much  money.  The  lumber,  the  building  of  the 
boards,  the  drawing  paper,  and  the  artistic  gluing  of 
the  paper  all  count  up. 

*  *     *     *     A.S    to    size,    little    need    be    said.     A 
draughtsman  can't   make   a  good  drawing  so    small 
that  a  workman  can't  follow  it.     The  scale  of  a  draw- 


305  EXTRACTS     FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

ing  is  immaterial.  No  one  is  called  upon  to  measure  a 
good  shop  drawing ;  and  a  scale  of  five  inches,  or  two 
and  a  quarter  inches,  or  seven-eighths  of  an  inch,  or 
three-sixteenths  of  an  inch,  to  the  foot,  is  far  better  than 
full  size,  because  the  men  will  then  keep  their  rules  off. 

Wooden  drawings  are  generally  about  twenty  by 
thirty  inches.  This  size  is  entirely  too  large  for  con- 
venience, and  is  not  called  for  by  any  class  of  work. 
Such  big  boards  cannot  be  handled  in  sets  ;  they  take 
up  too  much  room  ;  it  takes  too  much  time  to  make 
such  big  drawings  ;  the  boards  are  too  large  to  use 
around  the  lathes,  the  vises,  or  anywhere  ;  they  get 
used  for  tool  boards  and  dinner  tables,  and  trays,  and 
tend  to  destroy  each  other  by  bulky  contact.  Boards 
half  as  big,  say  ten  by  twelve  inches,  are  much  more 
convenient,  and  are  large  enough  for  bridge  work,  lo- 
comotive work,  steamship  work,  boiler  work,  and 
every  other  kind  of  work. 

*  *  *  *  Sackett  uses  drawings  which  seem  to 
combine  all  the  virtues.  They  are  made  on  cards 
about  an  eighth  of  an  inch  thick.  The  cards  are  good 
tarboard,  with  a  peculiar  quality  of  drawing  paper 
pasted  on  one  side.  The  edges  of  the  paper  are 
brought  over  the  edges  of  the  tarboard  and  pasted  to 
the  back.  They  are  very  light  and  strong  ;  in  fact, 
they  seem  indestructible.  They  cost  $80  a  thousand, 
or  eight  cents  each,  and  are  made  by  William  Mann, 
stationer,  Philadelphia.  The  size  is  lox  13^  inches. 
These  cards'  are  nice.  A  set  of  detail  drawings  for  a 
common  slide  valve  engine  (the  size  of  the  engine 
makes  no  difference  in  the  drawings),  requires  about 
twenty-five  of  these  cards.  The  whole  set  can  be  car- 
ried in  one  hand.  They  slide  over  each  other  like  a 
eucre  deck  ;  they  are  light  ;  they  are  of  convenient 
.size  to  handle  around  the  shop  ;  they  store  nicely  in  a 
safe,  and  they  are  cheap. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS.  309 

*  *    *   *    Sackett  uses  these  card  drawings,  and  his 
whole  drawing  system  has  many  tip-top  points  in  it. 

A  panel  drawing  board  is  used  with  these  cards. 
The  card  drops  into  the  panel,  so  that  its  surface  is 
flush  with  the  stiles.  In  the  edges  of  the  panel,  wood 
screws,  with  their  heads  half  cut  away,  are  fixed.  A 
half  turn  of  the  screws  brings  the  sharp  heads  around 
into  the  edge  of  the  card.  Nothing  projects  above  the 
surface  of  the  card,  and  a  card  may  be  returned  to  the 
board  and  nicely  trued  up. 

*  *     *     *     \Vhen  Sackett  gets  up  a  new  machine, 
he  has  temporary  detail  drawings  made  on  brown  de- 
tail paper.     The  machine  is  given  some  short  symbol 
like  G  6,  which  is  used  as  the  name  of  the  machine. 
Patterns  and  drawings  are  marked  with  this  symbol, 
and   the  time  and  cost  books  deal  with  this  symbol. 
Of  symbolism,  more  hereafter.    After  the  first  machine 
is  made,  corrections  made,  and  the  details  all  approved, 
the  permanent  drawings  are  made  on  these  cards,  and 
the  temporary  drawings   are  immediately  destroyed. 
The  drawings  are  made  in  detail,  no  two  pieces  being 
shown  in  contact;  and  the  fewest  possible  number  of 
lines  are  used  in  making  the  drawings.     No  dotted 
lines  are  used   where  not  essential,  and   there  is  no 
hatch   shading,    shapes  being  brought  out  by  pencil 
shading.      Every  confusing   element   is  omitted,  and 
everything  is  shown,  past  all  misunderstanding.   Then, 
before  a  figure  is  written  on  the  drawing,  it  receives  one 
coat  of  white  shellac  varnish.     This  is  sand-papered, 
and  on  the  hard  surface  thus  presented  all  the  figuring 
is  done.     A  printed  general  instruction  sheet  is  then 
pasted  on  the  back  of  the  card,  together  with  a  big 
symbol,  so  the  drawing  can  be  easily  identified     Three 
coats  of  white  shellac  varnish  are  then  applied  to  the 
card,  back  and  front.     If  errors  should  at  any  time  be 
discovered  in  the  figuring,  it  is  only  necessary  to  erase 


310  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

through  the  external  varnish,  correct  the  figure,  and 
re-varnish.  Were  the  figures  put  on  the  paper  surface, 
some  ugly  digging  would  have  to  be  done  in  correcting 
an  error.  If  subsequent  changes  are  made,  it  is  a  tri- 
fling matter  to  make  one  of  these  little  cards  new. 


BENNETT'S   DRAWING   RACK. 

*  *  *  *  This  reminds  me  that  Bennett  uses 
these  card  drawings,  and  that  he  has  got  up  a  music- 
stand  sort  of  rig,  as  a  lathe  attachment  to  hold  the 
drawings.  The  rack  attaches  to  the  carriage  of  a 
lathe,  to  a  planer  rail,  or  to  any  such  thing,  and  is 
really  a  good  institution.  Above  is  a  sketch  of  it. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.      JM 

As  previously  stated,  Bennett  uses  lox  [3^  inch 
drawings  exclusively. 

This  rack  is  simply  a  light  casting,  socketed  loosely 
on  a  rod,  which  is  arranged  to  fasten  into  the  lathe 
carriage.  On  the  same  rod,  just  under  the  rack  socket, 
a  square  cast  iron  arm  is  fitted.  The  upright  rod  is 
shouldered  to  receive  the  arm  hub  and  the  rack  socket. 

On  the  arm  slides  a  light  cast-iron  cup,  which  will 
hold  about  a  quart  of  water.  The  mortises,  to  fit  the 
arm,  are  cast  in  the  cup;  in  fact,  the  work  is  all  gotten 
up  cheaply,  though  it  acts  and  looks  well.  A  piece  of 
one-eighth  inch  piping  is  screwed  tightly  into  a  base 
cast  near  the  bottom  of  the  cup.  This  pipe  reaches 
out  about  four  inches,  and  then  bends  downward  with 
an  easy  curve.  The  bent  end  of  this  pipe  is  carefully 
faced,  and  provided  with  a  long  thread  of  very  fine 
pitch.  On  this  thread  is  loosely  screwed  a  brass  snoot, 
having  a  milled  collar  at  its  upper  end.  By  a  simple 
but  peculiar  arrangement  of  the  inside  of  this  snoot, 
the  end  of  the  pipe  is  adapted  to  seat  against  a  shoul- 
der and  thus  form  a  stop  valve.  Turning  the  snoot 
by  the  collar,  regulates  the  flow  of  water.  It  is  simply 
a  cheap  and  substantial  form  of  cock.  Bennett  puts 
these  complete  things  on  lathes,  planers,  shapers  and 
slotters,  and  he  uses  a  similar  rig,  minus  the  water 
works,  for  drill  presses,  vises,  boring  mills,  gear  cut- 
ters, pattern  lathes,  and  all  other  machines.  It  is  no 
slouch  of  an  arrangement,  and,  being  made  in  a  lot, 
they  are  very  much  cheaper  than  the  hap-hazard  thing 
we  usually  see.  Come  to  think  of  it,  I  don't  remember 
ever  having  seen  any  other  shop  provided  with  any 
kind  of  water  cans,  except  such  as  each  lathesman 
seems  to  have  conjured  up  himself. 

*  *  *  *  I  take  Sackett's  shop  drawings  as  mod- 
els, because  he  seems  to  have  got  things  reduced  to  a 
smooth  working  system.  I  have  noticed  the  system  of 


312      EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS^ 

drawings  used  in  many  of  our  finest  shops,  but  in  al- 
most every  case  it  looks  as  though  little  attention  had 
been  paid  to  any  regular  plan.  This,  of  course,  has 
no  reference  to  the  character  of  the  work  shown  on  the 
drawings,  or  to  the  character  of  the  draughtsman's 
work.  I  am  speaking  of  the  drawings  themselves,  as 
drawings,  and  with  reference  to  their  functions  in  the 
shop. 

*  *     *     *    I  will  first  briefly  refer  to  Sackett's  sym- 
bolism.    Nearly  all  good  shops  symbolize  their  work, 
but  some  do  not,  and  ever  so  many  bad  shops  do  noth- 
ing which  will  save   work.     Symbolism   saves  in  the 
Drawing  room,  in  the.  pattern  shop,  in  the  pattern  store 
room,  in  the  foundry,  in  the  machine  shop,  and  in  the 
office.     I  do  not  believe  it  possible  to  keep  stored  pat- 
terns in  come-atable  shape,  without  some  symbolical 
system  of  marking  them. 

*  *     *     *     Symbols  are  only  of  real  value  in  shops 
which  build  something  regularly.     Take  the  case  of  a 
shop  building  threshing  machines,  fanning  mills  and 
sugar  mills.     It  is  almost  impossible  to  stamp  such  a 
word  as  "  Thresher  "  on  little  patterns,  and  they  must 
be  marked  for  identification  to  avoid  a  mix.    Under  a 
system  of  symbols,  a  single  letter  will  be  chosen  to  ty- 
pify a  class  of  machines,  as  A,  for  threshers  ;  B,  for  fan- 
ning mills,  and  C  for  sugar  mills.    In  this  way,  any  pat- 
tern,, piece  of  a  pattern,  core  box,  drawing,  or  casting, 
marked  B,  is  at  once  known  as  belonging  to  a  fanning 
mill.     The  shop  may  make  two  kinds  or  sizes  of  fan- 
ning mills.   It  thus  becomes  necessary  to  mark  work  in 
such  a  way  that  we  may  know  just  what  style  of  fan- 
ning mill  the  thing  belongs  to. 

This  is  effected  by  combining  with  the  machine 
symbol,  a  style  symbol.  Thus  fanning-mill  patterns 
may  be  marked  B  i  for  one  style,  and  B  2  for  another 
style,  and  so  on.  The  figure  2  in  the  last  case  doesn't 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS.      313 

show  that  B  2  is  a  larger  machine  than  B  i,  or  that  it 
is  a  smaller  machine,  or  that  it  is  a  later  style.  It 
simply  shows  that  it  is  a  different  fanning  mill  from  B  i. 

If,  in  course  of  time,  B  i  is  radically  altered,  it  takes 
a  new  symbol  like  B  3,  for  instance,  indicating  that  it 
is  not  B  r.  B  3  is  a  machine  made  in  conformity  with 
B  3  drawings,  cast  from  B  3  patterns,  and  run  on  the 
cost  books  as  B  3.  Under  this  system,  the  men  in  the 
shop  will  cease  to  speak  of  the  little  fanning  mill  or 
the  big  fanning  mill,  and  will  only  talk  of  B  i,  or  B 
2,  etc. 

A  stranger  don't  know  what  the  men  are  talking 
about  in  a  symbol  shop,  and  he  don't  need  to  care.  A 
new  workman  drops  into  the  thing  very  quickly. 

*  *     *     *     Every  piece  of  drawing  or  pattern  re- 
ferring to  B  3  will  be  marked  63.     63  patterns  will 
be  kept  in  a  space  devoted  to  B  3,  and  if  they  get  mis- 
laid, their  place  is  easily  found.    The  men  keep  time  on 
B  3, 'instead  of  on  some  kind  of  a  fanning  mill,  and 
the  time-keeper's  book  deals  with  B  3. 

*  *     *     *•    The    machine  not  only  has  a  symbol, 
but  each  piece  has  a  designating  number.  The  draughts- 
man puts  the  number  on  the  drawing  of  the  piece ;  the 
pattern  maker  stamps  it  on  the  pattern  of  that  piece, 
and  on  all  loose  pieces  of  that  pattern,  and  on  all  core 
boxes  for  that  piece.     Time  is  kept  on  that  piece,  and 
castings  are  ordered  by  the  number  as  well  as  symbol. 
The  draughtsman  marks  a  certain   gear  No.   i,  and 
another  gear  No.  2,  and  so  on.    If  castings  are  wanted, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  show  the  pattern,  or  to  describe 
the  shape  of  it.    The  order  is  simply  made  for  B  3,  No. 
2,  and  this  will  be  found  stamped  on  the  proper  pat- 
tern.    Time  is  kept  by  number  as  well  as  symbol.     A 
lathesman's  slate  may  read  :  "  Boring  4.0  pcs.     B  3, 
No.  28,  9  hours."     This  would  cover  a  slate,  if  written 
in  full,  and  would  wear  out  a  time-keeper. 


314  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

*  *     *     *     Many  shops  use  the  piece  numbers  in 
such  a  way  as  to  indicate  the  material  the  piece  is  to 
be  made  of. 

Thus,  a  drawing  marked  No.  3,  No.  22,  No.  16,  would 
mean  that  the  pieces  were  to  be  of  cast-iron.  If  marked 
No.  03,  No.  022,  No.  016,  it  means  wrought-iron  or 
steel,  it  don't  make  any  difference  which,  as  the  black- 
smith's drawings  tell  him.  which  it  is.  Machinists 
know  that  any  piece  marked  02  is  to  be  made  of  a 
forging.  No.  003,  No.  0022,  etc.,  mean  brass.  No. 
0003,  No.  00022,  mean  wood.  No.  00003,  malleable 
iron,  and  so  on,  as  may  be  adopted.  It  is  customary 
to  use  the  last  kind  of  numbering  for  all  rare  mate- 
rials, such  as  malleable  iron,  if  rarely  used,  leather, 
rubber,  and  special  metals,  thus  indicating  that  the 
piece  is  not  made  of  common  material,  and  the  draw- 
ing will  define  what  it  is  to  be  made  of. 

*  *     *     *     i   do    not   intend   to    say  much   about 
Sackett's  instruction   to  his   draughtsmen,  regarding 
the  execution  of  the  drawings,  but,  as  part  of  the  sys- 
tem, I    should  explain    that  no  one   but  the  pattern 
maker  is  ever  to  measure  a  drawing.     He  never  has 
to  do  so   but  once,  and  he  can  measure    closely  to 
any  scale.     But  if  machinists  ever  measure  drawings, 
there  is  no  telling  what  will  happen.     No  two  men 
measure   alike,   and,   as  a  consequence,  the   drawing 
would  be  subjected  to  a  dozen  different  translations. 

For  this  reason,  a  dfawing  should  show  figured  di- 
mensions wherever  it  is  to  be  brought  to  a  size.  Parts 
which  are  not  to  be  touched  by  machinists,  have  no 
dimensions  given.  Sometimes  a  place  is  to  be  turned 
or  finished,  and  at  the  same  time  it  may  make  no  dif- 
ference about  its  distance  or  dimension.  If  a  dimen- 
sion is  marked  on  such  a  place,  a  man  will  use  up  as 
much  time  bringing  the  piece  to  figured  size,  as  if  it 
was  very  important.  Figures  are  not  put  on  such 


EXTRACTS   FROM   CHORDAL'S   LETTERS.          315 


H,  6. 

6xlO  Inch  Portable  Engine.    March,  188O. 


TO  PATTERN  MAKFRS. 

A  plain  number,  as  No.  7,  means  cast-Iron.  Tf  preceded  by  a  cipher,  as  No. 
07,  it  means  wrought  work.  If  preceded  by  two  ciphers,  as  No.  (K)7,  it  means 
brass.  If  preceded  by  three  ciphers,  it  means  wood-work.  Patterns  a  re  want- 
ed for  cast-iron  and  brass  pieces. 

Measure  arid  make  your  own  allowance  for  shrinkage  and  drait. 

Holes  with  no  sizes  given  are  to  be  cored  to  size. 

Do  not  measure  where  figures  are  given. 

Always  add  for  finish,  when  figures  are  given.  Add  for  finish  when  you  find 
the  word  "  polish,"  or  '•  face." 

Where  two  views  are  shown,  the  size  is  generally  marked  in  but  one  place ; 
the  same  with  holes  of  the  same  character.  Look  out  for  this. 

Don't  forget  the  fillets  and  rounds  on  all  rough  work. 

Mark  all  patterns,  core-boxes  and  pieces,  with  the  symbol  and  number. 

If  one  pattern  makes  two  pieces  with  additions,  put  both  numbers  on  the 
piece  used  for  the  two. 

TO  BLACKSMITHS. 

If  there  are  forging  sheets,  work  to  the  figures  and  to  the  shapes  shown  by 
the  red  outlines.  It  there  is  no  red  outline,  the  piece  is  not  to  be  finished  and 
calls  for  a  smoother  forging.  If  there  are  no  fcrging  sheets,  make  forcings 
from  working  drawings  to  order  only,  r.nd  leave  finish  where  figures  are  given. 
TO  MACHINISTS 

Do  not  finish  where  there  are  no  figures,  unless  you  find  the  word  "  finish," 
or  "  polish,"  or  have  special  instructions. 

Where  nuts  and  boltheads  come  down  on  rough  cas1  insrs,  you  will  counter- 
bore  the  surface,  so  as  to  allow  them  to  come  down  square 

Counter-sink  the  first  thread  out  of  all  tapped  holes,  not  with  a  drill,  but  a 
hand  counter  sink. 

Touch  all  bolt  holes  lightly,  with  the  same  tool. 

Chamfer  the  first  thread  off  all  screws  before  trying  them  <n  a  hole. 

Leave  no  ragged  corners.  Where  a  corner  is  formed  by  a  rough  surface  and 
a  finished  one,  round  the  corner  nicely  and  boldly. 

A  hole  marked  •'  tap  "  is  to  have  a  thread  in  it,  either  tapped  or  chased. 

All  screws  are  standard  thread  and  right  hand  V,  unless  otherwise  men- 
tioned. 

All  key  seats  are  to  be  in  depth  one-half  their  width,  and  straight,  unless 
otherwise  stated. 

Don't  polish  any  work  not  marked  polish,  except  on  special  instructions. 

Don't  touch  a  tool  to  any  part  not  figured,  unless  you  find  the  word  "polish" 
or  "face."  If  the  word  "polish"  is  placed  after  the  number  ox  the  piece,  it 
means  polish  all  over  the  outside. 

Where  a  hole  to  be  drilled  is  shown  and  no  distances  are  given,  it,  is  either 
to  be  scribed  from  some  other  piece,  or  is  to  be  in  the  center  of  a  bo?s. 

Make  all  fits  by  varying  tha  size  of  the  internal  piece.  Let  all  holes  be 
standard. 


SHERMAN  G.  SACKETT,        ...        Proprietor. 

OHIO  VALLEY  IRON  WORKS, 

CINCINNATI,  O. 


(See  page  316.) 


316  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S     LETTERS. 

places.  The  simple  word  "  plane,"  or  "  face,"  or  "pol- 
ish," and  the  absence  of  figures,  will  show  the  dimen- 
sions or  distance  is  immaterial.  All  this  business  looks 
like  work,  but  there  is  no  point  where  "  save  work  " 
comes  in  to  better  advantage  than  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  shop  drawings  ;  and  a  decided  system  of  draw- 
ings will  pay  many  times  over  for  its  cost. 

*  As  before  stated,  Sackett  pastes  a  back 
on  each  drawing  card.  These  backs  are  of  such  size 
as  to  meet  and  lap  over  the  margin.  On  the  preced- 
ing page  I  show  the  back  work  of  one  of  Sackett's 
drawings.  The  up'per  section  is  printed  separately,  and 
if  a  machine  requires  but  five  or  six  drawing  cards,  the 
draughtsman  makes  this  section  himself.  If  ten  or  more 
are  needed,  printing  is  the  nicest  and  cheapest.  The 
symbol  is  brought  out  very  boldly,  as  shown,  so  that 
drawings  maybe  easily  identified.  The  balance  of 
this  thing  is  printed  in  one  piece,  and  all  is  pasted  on 
before  the  drawing  is  varnished.  *  *  *  *  . 

*  *     *     *     No  machinist  iri  this  country  has  done 
himself  justice  until  he  has  worked  somewhat  in  rail- 
road shops,  but  the  lad  so  unfortunate  as  to  learn  his 
trade  in  One  is  to  be  pitied.     No  matter  how1  good  a 
workman  he  is  on  railroad  work,  which  is  almost  al- 
ways old  repair  work,  he  finds  himself  decidedly  "off  " 
when  he  gets  out  in  the  other  shops.      He  finds  he 
must  stick  to  railroad  shops,  or  else  grit  his  teeth  and 
learn  his  trade  over  again. 

*  *     *     *     I  may  be  accused  of  intimating  that  a 
machinist  ought  to  tramp  over  the  country  and  work 
around.    That's  just  exactly  what  I  mean.    I  hold  that 
there  is  a  time  to  commence  sticking  to  one  shop,  and 
that  too  much  sticking  before  that  time  tends  to  dam- 
age a  man's  future. 

*  *     *     *     It   is   a   knowledge   of   the   experience 
and    emotions   of    men   that    makes  me   firm    in    the 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CttORDAI/S    LETTERS.  317 

belief  that  a  workman  does  well  to  begin  tramping 
early,  after  finishing  his  time,  and  to  quit  tramping 
soon  after  beginning.  The  idea  is  to  get  posted  in 
the  general  ways  of  the  trade — something  which  can- 
not possibly  be  done  in  any  one  shop — and,  at  the 
same  time,  the  variety  is  not  so  great  that  its  salient 
points  cannot  be  absorbed  in  a  short  time  spent  in  judi- 
ciously moving  around. 

*  *     *     *     My  advice  to  a  young  chap,  after  serv- 
ing out  his  time,  is  to  start  out,  no  matter  what  pay 
can  be  had  by  staying.     Call  your  starting  point  your 
home,  and  never  call  it  abandoned.     Go  so  far  from 
home  that  you  can't  get  back,  and  don't  go  near  any 
friends  or  men  you  have  ever  seen  before.     This  will 
put  you  to  the  rack  of  self-reliance,  but  the  thing  must 
come  before  the  boy  changes  to  the  man.     You  will 
march  out  into  the  world,  confident  that  you  know  all 
about  machine  shops.     You  will  get  work  where  old 
stagers  fail,  and  you  will  make  friends  where  the  old 
stager  don't  look  for  them.     Every  new  shop  will  be 
a  grand  revelation. 

Pick  out  different  kinds  of  shops.  Railroad,  car, 
steam  engine,  locomotive,  machine  tools,  woodworking 
machinery,  mining  machinery,  agricultural  implements, 
printing  machinery,  steam  pumps,  mill  machinery,  etc. 
Take  in  the  whole  variety  in  small  doses,  and  then  go 
home  and  settle  down,  or  move  your  home  to  the  place 
you  like  best. 

*  *    *     *     This  country  is  awfully  big,  and,  with 
all  respect  for  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  lathes 
which  this  very  minute  are  revolving  while  some  chap 
leans  over  them  with  outside  calipers ;  for  the  thou- 
sands of  planers,  which  are  at  this  instant  knocking 
their  dogs  against  their  tumblers  ;  for  the  thousands 
of  drill  presses,  which  this  instant  would  show  their 
spindles  gradually  descending ;  for  the  thousands  of 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

vises,  which  this  instant  have  a  death  grip  on  some 
piece  of  metal  ;  for  the  shower  of  chips  flying  before 
the  thousands  of  chipping  chisels  now  creeping  slowly 
forward  before  thousands  of  ball-pein  hammers — with 
all  respect  for  these  many  evidences  of  the  existence  of 
machine  shops  in  this  land,  I  venture  the  opinion  that 
the  machine  shops  haven  t  got  started  yet.  There  are 
lots  of  them  yet  to  come.  Not  monster  establishments 
with  full  lines  of  regular-articles  to  make,  with  a  rou- 
tine business  and  printed  catalogues,  with  stocks  of 
patterns  in  regular  use,  with  story  after  story  full  of 
fine  tools  and  fine  workmen;  not  such  shops  as  these, 
but  little  shops  which  will  some  day,  under  the  man- 
agement of  boys  now  sweeping  the  shop,  grow  up  and 
find  their  place.  These  little  shops  wil  have  a  certainty 
of  nothing,  and  will  do  every  thing. 

*  *     *     *     Men  with  nothing  have  finally  got  shops 
of  their  own,  and  it  will  continue  to  happen  that  way. 
A  man  some  day  learns  that  if  he  can't  ride,  he  can 
walk.     If  he  is  not  born  to  move,  he  can  stand  still. 
There  are  riding  shops,  and  there  are  walking  shops; 
I  know  something  about  the.se  walking  shops  ;  in  fact 
I  was  raised  in  a  shop  that  was  too  weak  and  puny  to 
creep  well,  and  I  saw  it  in  a  full   gallop  before  my 
term  of  apprenticeship  was  up. 

I  actually  believe  that  the  most  successful  own- 
ers are  those  who  come  from  these  good  shops.  The 
slouch  from  the  rough  little  shop  can  start  one  of 
his  own  and  feel  at  home,  but  if  the  business  should 
grow  in  spite  of  him,  it  would  probably  get  away  with 
him,  while  the  lordly  chip  from  the  big  shop,  if  he  can 
narrow  his  gauge  to  start  on,  is  always  ready  for  a 
healthful  growth. 

*  *     *     *     There  are  two  ways  of   starting  small 
shops.     One  is  to  depend  on  your  superior  skill  and 
wit  and  mechanical  reputation,  and  start  right  under 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  319 

the  nose  of  the  big  shop  you  came  out  of.  If  you 
have  luck,  you  may  absorb  the  big  shop  in  course  of 
years.  If  you 'don't  have  luck,  they  will  absorb  you. 
Such  shops  generally  start  with  the  intention  of  mak- 
ing a  certain  thing,  and  depending  on  luck  and  man- 
agement to  bring  other  things  into  line. 

The  other  way  is  to  hunt  around  and  find  a  place 
miles  and  miles  and  miles  away  from  any  other  shop. 
The  place  must  be  located  in  the  market  center 
of  some  saw-mill  country,  or  agricultural  country, 
or  sugar-mill  country,  or  some  machine-using  sec- 
tion. 

The  intention  is  to  get  the  repairs  of  the  surrounding 
section,  do  such  odd  new  work  as  can  be  picked  up, 
and  finally  get  into  the  manufacture  of  the  very  ma- 
chines you  repair.  In  proper  hands  this  plan  is  the 
sure  road  to  fortune.  But  it  is  hard,  up-hill  work,  and 
takes  lots  of  pluck  and  good  judgment.  Repair  work 
in  such  a  shop  brings  fabulous  prices.  There  is  no 
competition,  and  skill  must  be  used  to  keep  competi- 
tion away.  West  of  the  Mississippi  is  the  place  for 
such  shops  to  hunt  for  locations. 

Such  shops  require  more  money  than  the  little  city 
shops,  because  you  can't  get  supplies  inside  of  three 
weeks,  and  you  need  them  every  instant.  It  might  be 
thought  that  a  railroad  would  be  a  convenience,  but  a 
railroad  would  spoil  the  whole  game.  It  would  bring 
your  supplies  quicker,  but  it  would  also  bring  them 
to  your  customer  quicker,  and  would  allow  him  to  go 
to  headquarters. 

After  a  while  you  will  get  up  a  saw-mill  or  engine, 
no  better  than  anybody  else's,  but  a  little  different, 
so  you  can  call  it  your  own,  and  sell  it  for  five  prices. 
Your  real  estate  is  given  to  you  with  a  cash  bonus  to 
encourage  the  enterprise,  and  you  become  a  curiosity 
and  a  power  in  the  neighborhood. 


320  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

*  *  *  *  Can  you  imagine  the  enthusiastic  artist 
admiring  the  rare  creations  of  the  masters,  always  alive 
to  their  points  of  excellence,  and  ever  striving  to  give 
his  own  atmosphere  the  color  of  their  bold  superiority  ? 
And  can  you  imagine  the  rare  delight  this  artist  would 
find  in  that  reversal  of  time,  which  would  allow  him  to 
touch  these  masters  and  see  them  at  their  work?  If 
you  can,  you  know  something  of  my  experience  as  I 
made  my  first  pilgrimage,  and  set  foot  in  the  sacred 
premises,  and  found  myself  in  contact  with  the  men 
whose  names  have  been  always  by  me  through  my 
shop  life. 

I  did  do  it,  sure  enough,  and  I  hope  to  do  it  again. 
I  put  on  my  summer  hat,  stopped  the  mill,  and  made 
the  grand  rounds.  I  never  saw  these  shops  before,  and 
for  that  reason  am  glad  I  didn't  die  last  summer.  If 
I  should  commence  to  make  what  I  saw  and  was  in- 
terested in  the  subject  of  these  letters,  I  wouldn't  have 
time  to  write  them,  and  these  pages  wouldn't  be  big 
enough  to  hold  them,  so  I  won't  do  it.  *  *  * 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS  32! 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE    MEN    WHO     DESIGN     MILLS   AND    SHOPS. — CHARACTER- 
ISTICS   OF  PROFESSIONAL  AND  NON-PROFESSIONAL  MEN.— 
ARCHITECTS  WHO  FAIL  IN  DESIGNING  INDUSTRIAL  W  ORKS. 
—  INCONVENIENCES   IN     MACHINE    SHOPS.  —  THE     USUAL 
EXPERIENCE  IN  BUILDING  AND   EXTENDING  THEM. 

*  *     *     *     I  am  on  the  hunt  for  an  architect  who  has 
made  a  study  of  industrial  works.     I  know  of  lots  of  them 
who  pretend  to  make  a  specialty  of  such  business,  and  who 
can  point  with  pride  to  many  magnificent  shops,  mills,  fac- 
tories, etc.,  in  which  the  exterior  seems  to  indicate  a  special 
fitness  within.      But  when  we  come  to  investigate  these 
establishments,  we  find  them  full  of  architectural  blunders. 
The  utility  of  a  thing  seems  to  be  entirely  outside  of  the 
architect's  range  of  comprehension.     A  canvas  awning,  or 
a  business  sign,  put  on  a  building,  disarranges  all  the  archi- 
tect's calculations ;  in  fact,  I  never  heard  of  one  of  them 
showing  a  sign  on  an  elevation.     I  suppose  they  would  pro- 
test if  asked  to  dot  one  in,  just  to  see  how  it  looked.     It 
might  spoil  the  looks  of  the  drawing.     The  New  York  Post- 
office  is  a  fair  sample  of  functional  architecture.     It  was, 
or  was  supposed  to  be,  designed  for  the  manipulation  of 
mail  matter  and  the  transaction  of  postal  business  ;  but  no 
proper  calculation  was  made  for  light,  and  no  means  were 
provided  for  getting  mail  into  the  building,  or  for  getting 
mail  out.     A  wooden  addition,  with  some  common  sense  in 
it,  had  to  be  resorted  to,  before  the  place  was  at  all  fitted 
for  the  very  work  it  was  intended  for. 

*  *     *     *     Modern  mill   architecture  has  apparently 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  mill  operators,  who,  as  a  class,  know 
as  much  about  mill  designing  as  a  woman  does  about  design- 
ing a  kitchen.     The  modern  mill  is  designed  by  a  mill- 
wright, or  an  operative,  and  the  modern  machine-shop  de- 
sign springs  from  the  brain  of  a  machinist. 


322  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL/S    LETTERS. 

*  *     *     *     The  mechanical  engineer  lives,  and  works 
and  deals  with  machinery  and  machine  work.     He  is  a  de- 
signing mechanic,  with  observation  and  executive  faculties 
He  also  works  with  drawing    paper   and  T-squares   and 
compasses  and  bow  pens  and  dotted  lines,  and  talks  freely 
of  elevation,  section,  plan,  and  detail. 

It  would  look  as  though  such  a  man  was  an  engineer  and 
architect  combined  in  one  machine;  and  that  if  he  wanted 
to  design  a  building  for  industrial  purposes,  in  his  line,  all 
he  had  to  do  was  simply  to  do  it. 

*  *     *     *     I  have  always  divided  men  into  two  classes, 
professional  and  non-professional,  to  the  disparagement  of 
neither.     Among  non-professional  men,  I  class  those  who 
carefully  treasure  every  scrap  of  past  experience,  and  who 
are  guided  by  their  accumulations  of  experience. 

Among  the  professional  men,  I  class  those,  who,  without 
any  special  attempt  to  gain  experience  themselves,  are  con- 
stantly and  forever  absorbing  the  experience  of  others.  If 
the  non-professional  never  did  a  certain  thing,  he  knows 
nothing  about  it.  After  he  has  done  it,  he  gets  one  man's 
experience.  The  professional  man,  without  ever  intending 
to  do  a  certain  thing,  may  have  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
world's  experience  in  that  thing.  To  him  the  books  bring 
the  lifetime  experience  of  ten  thousand  lives.  Knowledge 
of  others'  failures  will  divert  his  thoughts  and  acts  into 
original  channels.  The  non-professional  'leaves  on  record 
the  experience  of  one  small  life,  and  the  professional  man 
gathers  in  thousands  of  these.  The  non-professional  man 
may  grope  alone  a  lifetime  after  one  small  fact,  stored  in 
a  business-like  way  in  the  head  of  the  professional  man. 
The  professional  man's  mind  is  a  valuable  text  book  in  the 
school  of  experience,  which  the  book  itself  may  never 
attend. 

It  has  taken  all  this  philosophy  to  bring  me  to  the  con- 
clusion that  an  architect  ought  to  be  able  to  tell  me 
something  useful  about  houses,  especially  as  my  sole  ex- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  325 

perience  consists  in  a  dissatisfaction  with  the  last  one  I 
lived  in. 

*  *     *     *     When  the  machine  man  builds  a  shop,  he 
botches  it. 

I  don't  know  just  why  this  should  be  so,  but  I  have 
often  noticed  that  new  establishments,  contrived  with  a 
definite  purpose  in  view,  have  almost  always  proved  the 
most  awkward,  and  ill-fitted  for  their  use. 

Railroad  shops,  designed  by  some  master  mechanic 
with  every  possible  point  in  view,  are  generally  an  abom- 
ination ;  and  I  only  know  of  one  way  to  get  them  built 
worse,  and  that  is  to  set  an  industrial  architect  at  the  job. 

If  some  of  our  technical  colleges  will  establish  a  chair 
of  shopitecture,  in  which  a  knowledge  of  the  ancient  past 
forms  a  bar  to  approach,  I  believe  the  world  would  be  a 
trifle  advanced. 

*  *     *     *     T}ie  fact   is>  Mr.    Editor,   that  I   want  to 
build  a  shop.      I  am  a  mechanic  myself.     I  know  "  how  to 
set  a  slide  valve,"  and  how  to  cut  a  thread  on  chilled  iron, 
and  how  to  wash  old  waste,  and  how  to  unscrew  a  rusty 
nut,  and  lots  of  things  ;  and  I  know  how  to  "draft,"  and 
how  to  figure  up  the  weight  of  cast  iron,  and  all  such  ;  but 
I  have  seen  lots  of  shopmen  far  better  and  wiser  than  I, 
get  up  miserable  shops.     I  don't  want  any  such  side  issue 
to  enter  in  on  my  life,  and  for  that  reason  I  seek  far  and 
wide  for  the  man  who  can  measure  me  for  a  shop  as  a 
shoemaker  would  for  a  boot. 

*  *     *     *     With  a  full  knowledge  that  I  may  have  to 
be  my  own  shoemaker,  I  am  now  looking  at  crack  shops, 
and  if  you  could  set  instantaneous  pictures  in  type,  I  could 
send  you  a  volume  on  modern  shop  architecture. 

*  *     *     *     The  kest   arrangements    I  have  seen  for 
handling  heavy  work  have  been  in  shops  that  never  have 
made,  and  never  intended  to  make,  anything  weighing  a  ton. 
I  find  heavy  tools  and  heavy  work  done  on  sky  floors,  and 
tinkering   work   done   in   one-story  shops.      I   find   well- 


326  EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAI.'s    LETTERS. 

arranged  cranes  fixed  where  small  tools  run,  and  see  the 
heavy  lifting,  around  big  planers  and  lathes,  done  by  pure 
back  muscle.  I  find  raw  stock  in  warehouses,  and  finished 
stock  out-doors.  I  find  monster  elevators  well  arranged 
in  shops  whose  delicate  little  work  could  be  blown  through 
a  pneumatic  tube  ;  and  in  some  shops  doing  heavy  work,  I 
notice  that  an  open  hatchway  and  a  dollar's  worth  of  rope, 
are  the  sole  dependence. 

*  *     *     *     A   storeroom  for  castings  is   seldom   met 
with,  and  when  found,  it  is  invariably  so  arranged  that  it 
is  simply  a  casting  pile  under  roof. 

A  casting  storeroom  systematically  arranged  and  adapt- 
ed to  contain  all  the  standard  and  wild  castings  of  a  con- 
cern ;  a  place  where  the  foundry's  delivery  ends  ;  a  place 
where  the  machine-shop's  receipt  of  cast  stock  begins  ;  a 
place  where  every  stock  casting  belongs,  and  can  be  act- 
ually found,  is  a  rare  sight. 

It  is  so  useful  a  thing,  so  economical  of  valuable  time, 
so  convenient,  and  so  absolutely  void  of  expense  that  it  is 
hardly  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  refinement  or  a  luxury. 

*  *     *     *     The  power  of  extension  is  the  great  archi- 
tectural feature  in  a  shop.   The  presiding  genius  may  delib- 
erate and   dream  over  the  new  shop  ;  may  lay  down  on 
drawing  paper  every  machine  and  area  which  the  fairest  and 
most  prophetic  anticipation  can  suggest,  and  when  done  he 
makes  his  estimates  and  finds  that  the  cost  of  the  brick, 
exceeds  the  sum  of  all  present  intentions.     All  the  delibe- 
rations and  dreams  are  to  be  rubbed  out,  and  the  plan 
redrawn  on  a  smaller  scale.     This  thing  figures   up   all 
right,  and  the  new  shop  is  built  accordingly,  and  when 
done  everything  is  satisfactory  and  the  memory  even  of 
the  big  drawing  fades  away. 

*  *     *     *     Two  snort  years  and  prophecy  asserts  it- 
self.    Something  is  to  be  added,  and  a  review  of  the  old 
drawing  shows  that  the  very  item  was  borne  in  mind  but 
discarded  on  the  final  decision.     The  shop  is  built,  how- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  327 

ever,  and  the  new  item  must  be  added.  A  long  planer,  or 
a  big  lathe,  or  a  crane,  or  another  cupola,  or  room  for 
more  patterns,  or  a  paint  shop,  or  a  sand  shed,  or  a  flask 
yard,  or  a  wood  shop,  or  a  forge,  or  something  must  be 
wedged  into  a  space  already  calculated  with  economy. 

A  few  years  show  added  buildings  shutting  out  light 
from  the  original  ones  ;  floors  with  jumping-off  places  at 
the  most  unexpected  points  ;  little  machines  peppered  in 
among  big  ones  ;  cranes  which  either  lap  or  fail  to  con- 
nect ;  line  shafts  at  angles  driven  by  belts  turned  over 
mule  pulleys  ;  crowded  areas  originally  intended  for  set- 
ting up  floors  ;  castings  piled  wherever  luck  has  left  room 
for  them  ;  patterns  piled  where  luck  has  left  no  room  for 
them  ;  vises  at  windows  far  from  the  setting-up  spaces  ; 
shaving  shops  to  leeward  of  foundry  and  blacksmith  shops  ; 
and  so  many  other  things  awry  and  disordered  that  the 
presiding  genius,  his  own  architect,  wishes  he  was  back  in 
the  old  shop,  so  that  he  could  build  the  new  one  to  suit 
the  present  demands. 

*  *  *  *  I  honestly  believe  that  the  question  of 
shop  architecture  will  some  day  receive  the  attention  of 
some  of  your  readers  who  are  willing  to  give  their  experi- 
ences ;  and  that  some  one  will  suggest  that  elastic  shop 
which  can  be  built  with  present  funds  to  suit  present  needs, 
and  at  the  same  time  be  capable  of  systematic  extension  in 
pursuance  to  a  contrived  plan.  Making  a  new  drawing  on 
a  smaller  scale  is  wrong  in  principle.  The  scale  of  length 
only  should  be  altered. 


328  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

THE  ACQUISITION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. EXPERIENCE  OF  THE 

COUNTRY  BANKER'S  SON  IN  A  MACHINE  SHOP. 

*  *     *     *     \Ve  are  told  that  a  little  learning  is  a  dan- 
gerous thing,  and  also  to  drink  deep  or  touch  not  the 
Pierian  spring.     This  may  be   all   right  when   applied  to 
mental  and  moral  philosophy,  astronomy,  or  the  square 
root  of  2  ;  but  it  is  glaring  fallacy  when  applied  to  the 
mechanic  arts.     As  the  scales  of  ignorance  drop  from  the 
inquiring   mechanic's  eyes,   he  sees   behind  him  paths  of 
pleasant  conjecture,  and  before  him  a  somewhat  negatively 
forbidding  glare  of  certainty. 

I  take  it  to  be  the  experience  of  every  advanced  mechanic, 
who  is  anything  of  an  enthusiast,  that  his  pleasures  in  his 
art  have  lessened  as  his  special  knowledge  increased. 
Agathos  says  :  "  Not  in  knowledge  is  happiness,  but  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge.  In  forever  learning  we  are  for- 
ever blessed  ;  but  to  know  all  were  the  curse  of  a  fiend." 

All  mechanics  are  not  enthusiasts  ;  all  do  not  advance 
in  knowledge  ;  all  do  not  conjecture,  and  all  are  not  so 
situated  as  to  have  the  spirit  of  conjecture  aroused. 

*  *     *     *     A  country  banker's  son,  in  his  school  holi- 
days, finds  himself  at  the  open  door  of  a  machine  shop. 
It  is  the  only  shop  for  a  hundred  miles  around.     Like  all 
such  shops  so  situated,  it  is  called  the  "foundry."     The 
boy  is,  perhaps,  fourteen  :  he  has  never  seen  a  railroad  nor 
a  steamboat.     He  has  seen  two  steam  engines,  perhaps,  in 
dusty  flour  mills.     Horse  powers,  and  reapers,  and  treadle 
grindstones,  and  whirligig  egg  beaters  have  always  possessed 
a  charm  for  him.    He  has  had  an  investigative  eye  for  clock 
movements,  and  knows  that  they  have  a  cog  wheel  and  a 
fluttering  arrangement  inside.     He  has  read  papers  and 
books,  and  has  lots  of  pictures,  and  his  mind  is  stored 
with  mechanical  matter  for  ten  thousand  questions,  if  he 


could  find  any  one  as  intelligent  as  himself  to  put  them  to. 
He  looks  in  at  the  "foundry  "  door,  and  becomes  instantly 
aware  that  there  is  something  inside  which  he  never  saw, 
nor  read  of,  nor  heard  tell  of,  nor  dreamed  of.  From  the 
door  sill  he  looks  up  and  sees  a  revolving  shaft,  with  pulleys 
and  belts.  His  wondering  eye  follows  these  belts.  He  sees 
that  they  lead  to  counter  shafts,  which  in  their  turn  have 
pulleys  and  belts.  His  eye  follows  these  belts  down  to 
various  kinds  of  machines,  and  to  a  man  standing  by  each 
machine.  This  is  a  vision  to  him.  He  dares  go  no  further; 
he  goes  back  to  school  with  his  mind  full  of  the  whirling 
glimpse.  He  asks  himself,  What  were  those  things,  and 
what  were  those  men  doing,  and  what  were  they  doing  it 
for  ?  The  next  Saturday  he  finds  the  foundry  door  again  ; 
he  ventures  inside,  and  finds  himself  close  to  one  of  these 
men  running  one  of  these  machines  ;  he  knows  the  man 
from  the  machine,  but  he  doesn't  know  the  machine  from 
the  work  which  it  is  doing. 

It  is  a  lathe,  but  he  never  heard  the  word.  What  is  it 
for,  and  what  is  the  man  for  ?  The  machine  doesn't  seem 
to  be  grinding  anything,  and  the  man  doesn't  seem  to  be 
feeding  anything  to  it.  Parts  of  the  machine  seem  to  be 
simply  turning  around,  and  the  man  seems  to  be  simply 
watching  them  turn  around.  His  eye  wanders  around  the 
shop  wildly  and  wonderingly,  but  he  sees  only  mysteries 
repeated.  But  the  boy  is  a  boy,  if  he  is  a  puzzled  one. 
His  looks  of  wonder  and  inquiry  touch  the  heart  of  the 
lathesman,  as  such  looks  always  do  touch  the  hearts  of 
lathesmen.  The  latter  beckons  the  boy  to  him,  and  bows 
him  over  the  lathe,  and  shows  him  a  revolving  bar,  mostly 
black  and  rough,  and  brightened  part  of  the  way.  The 
boy  can  see  that  the  bright  part  is  a  trifle  smaller  than  the 
black  part,  and  that  a  something  or  other  is  close  up  to  it 
where  the  black  part  begins,  and  that  dirt  or  something  is 
continually  falling  from  it.  Still  he  does  not  comprehend, 
and  the  man  has  to  explain.  "  That  is  a  bar  of  iron,  and 


330  EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAL  S   LETTERS. 

I  am  turning  it  off  to  make  it  smaller  and  round  and  nice. 
The  lathe  turns  the  bar  around,  and  this  tool  does  the 
cutting." 

The  boy  sees  it  all  and  begins  to  explain  it  to  the  man  : 

"  Oh  !  now  I  see  it !  This  little  thing  is  the  thing  you're 
turning,  and  this  big  thing  is  the  thing  that  turns  it ;  and 
this  is  the  stuff  it  turns  off,  and  you  stand  here  to  watch  it. 
My  !  ain't  that  funny  !  I  didn't  know  they  could  turn 
iron.  What  do  they  use  such  a  big  machine  for  ?  It's 
bigger  than  the  piece  of  iron  ;  but,  say,  what  makes  the 
thing  keep  cutting  ?  I  don't  see  the  bar  move  up  any." 

Then  the  whole  thing  is  explained,  and  he  puts  his  finger 
on  the  carriage  and  feels  it  move.  The  man  draws  the  tool 
out  and  lets  him  feel  the  point,  and  explains  that  iron  is 
not  hard,  and  he  moves  the  carriage  by  hand  and  shows 
him  the  screw,  and  shows  him  the  knob  he  turns  to  stop 
and  start  the  feed,  and  he  stops  and  starts  the  lathe,  and 
throws  the  belt  to  show  what  the  cone  pulley  is  for. 

The  boy's  active  mind  grasps  the  whole  general  idea,  and 
he  grows  many  years  older  in  a  few  moments.  Then  he 
walks  around  the  shop  and  sees  other  lathes  on  other  kinds 
of  work,  and  he  sees  a  planer  and  a  drilling  machine,  and 
a  man  chipping  iron  with  a  hammer  and  chisel,  and  then 
he  goes  out  into  the  moulding  room,  and  sees  ugly  men 
and  pretty  holes  in  the  sand,  but  he  doesn't  know  what 
they  are  for. 

He  goes  home  and  tells  wonderful  tales,  and  dreams 
wonderful  dreams. 

Other  holidays  come,  and  he  makes  other  visits  and 
gains  more  knowledge  of  the  shop  and  men. 

*  *  *  *  Vacation  comes,  and  the  foundry  takes 
possession  of  him,  and  he  takes  possession  of  the  foundry. 
He  is  always  there  ;  the  first  to  come  in  the  morning,  the 
last  to  go  at  noon  or  night  ;  finds  out  everything,  noses 
around  everywhere,  seeks  the  dignity  of  standing  by  ma- 
chines when  no  one  else  is  by  them,  coats  his  clothes  all 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  33 l 

over  with  grease,  and  is  an  over-willing,  insistent,  incorrigi- 
ble, and,  withal,  a  very  happy,  tolerable  nuisance. 

*  *     *     *     Vacation  ends,  and  there  is  a  row  at  home 
between   the   country  banker   and   the   country   banker's 
son.     In  the  battle  both  win.    The  boy  goes  back  to  school 
for  one  term,  and  then  can  go  to  the  "  foundry"  as  an  ap- 
prentice. 

*  *     *     *     This  shop  seems  a  poor,  miserable  institu- 
tion to  us.     A  couple  of  shackly  lathes,  one  splendid  new 
lathe,  a  little  old  chain  planer,  a  wooden-frame  bolt-cut- 
ter, a  drill  press,  weighing  300  pounds,   a  six-by-ten  steam 
engine,  twenty  feet  of  line  shaft,  three  vises,  ten  flat  drills, 
two  die  plates,  about  one  set   of  taper  taps,  three  or  four 
home-made  plug  taps,  a  blacksmith's  fire,  a  few  files,  a  noisy 
old  blower,  a  cupola,  some  sand,  some  patterns,  some  pat- 
tern lumber,  a  wood  lathe,    six  pattern  maker's   clamps, 
handsome  scrap  iron — these  make  the  sum  and  substance 
of  the  inventory. 

*  *     *     *     The  men  in  the  shop  consist  of  the  owner, 
who  has  spent  all  his  life  in  shops,  but  who  never  was,  and 
never  will  be,  a  mechanic  ;  one  hired  man,  who  used  to  be 
a  machinist,  but  who  has  been  twenty  years  farming  ;  three 
younger  men  taken  as  learners,    their  muscle  being  their 
principal  recommendation  ;  an  old,  gray-headed  chap,  who 
may  some  day  have  been  a  moulder,  and  a  lively  carpen- 
ter, who  may  some  day  become  a  pattern  maker.     The  old 
machinist  gets  $3  a  day  ;  the  young  ones,  $8  a  week ;  the 
old   moulder  and  the  young   pattern  maker  $2.50  a  day 
each.     The  owner  is  the  hardest   worker  in  the  shop,  and 
is  making  money,  as  his  work  is  all  repair  work,  and  there 
is  no  competition. 

*  *     *     *     Is  it  reasonable  to  hope  that  the  banker's 
boy    can    go    into    this    miserable    shop    and   become    a 
mechanic  ? 

Anyhow,  he  goes  in  at  $5  a  week  for  three  years.     He 
has  more  natural  sense  than  all  the  others  in  the  institution 


33*  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

combined,  the  young  pattern  maker  being  the  only  man 
with  a  mind  beyond  the  crudeness  of  this  little  shop.  The 
routine  of  the  boy's  life  is  known  by  all  except  those  poor 
unfortunates  whose  first  view  of  mechanical  life  was  a  view 
of  the  thing  in  its  full  completeness. 

He  chipped  castings,  wrestled  with  the  old  bolt  cutter 
cut  bolts  with  the  hand  dies,  run  the  drill  press,  and  made 
himself  generally  useful.  His  hands  got  rough  and  bruised 
up,  and  cut,  and  dirt  got  into  the  cuts.  He  had  really 
entered  upon  the  sea  of  life  and  in  a  ship  hardly  sea- 
worthy. 

*  *  The  boss  runs  the  little  lathe  himself,  and 
being  called  away  frequently  by  other  duties,  gets  into  the 
habit  of  leaving  the  banker's  bey  John  to  watch  it  till  he 
comes  back.  -  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  banker's  boy  John 
knows  more  about  the  lathe  than  the  boss  ever  drearr ed  of, 
but  the  boss  is  no  fool  and  soon  finds  it  out,  and  the  bank- 
er's boy  John  becomes  the  lathe  hand  Johnnie.  He  does 
his  work  well  and  leads  a  life  of  ambition  and  inquiry.  He 
reads  everything  he  can  lay  his  hands  on,  and  every  day  he 
tells  the  old  machinist  something  about  machine  work  or 
asks  the  old  lathesmam  some  reasonable  question  which  he 
cannot  answer.  He  reads  of  twist  drills,  but  it  is  years 
before  he  sees  one  ;  he  finds  a  picture  of  one  and  shows  it 
to  the  old  man.  The  old  man  doesn't  know.  The  boy 
wants  to  know. 

Nuts  are  tapped  in  the  shop  by  running  a  blacksmith's 
taper  tap  into  both  sides.  The  boy  reads  of  a  nut  tap  and 
makes  one  for  use  in  the  bolt  cutter  on  his  own  hook. 
Merit  and  conceit  are  so  mixed  in  the  act  that  it  leaves  his 
reputation  as  it  was. 

*  *  *  *  These  blacksmith's  taps  are  used  to  start 
plug  taps  ;  the  boy  reads  up  on  the  tap  question,  and  on  his 
own  hook  constructs  starting  taps  with  the  outside  only 
tapering  ;  he  organizes  a  set  of  tap  wrenches.  He  also 
organizes  a  set  of  tap  drills,  and  has  many  a  row  over  them. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL/S    LETTERS.  333 

He  does  not  use  these  drills  himself,  and  he  is  not  the 
owner  nor  boss  of  the  shop  ;  but  he  forges  these  drills 
himself  at  idle  times,  and  sticks  them  in  the  board  by  the 
drill  press,  and  insists  on  full  benefits  being  derived  from 
them.  This  brings  on  a  fuss  every  time  his  watchful  eye 
catches  a  man  reducing  or  spreading  one  of  these  drills. 
His  next  piece  of  impertinence  is  to  find  fault  with  the 
square  hole  in  the  spindle  of  the  drill  press.  He  puts  the 
spindle  in  the  lathe,  cuts  a  thread  on  it  and  screws  on  a 
nice  socket  with  taper  hole  and  slot,  and  he  makes  the 
shank  of  every  drill  in  the  shop  to  fit  it.  There  is  not 
work  for  him  every  day,  so  he  finds  time  enough  for  this 
nonsense,  about  which  there  is  no  complaint  ;  only  indiffer- 


ence. 
# 


There    are    several  things   on  this   boy's 


mind  ;  he  wants  to  know  what  a  big  lathe  looks  like,,  and 
whether  a  man  uses  a  step  ladder  when  running  one.  He 
wants  to  know  what  a  boring  mill  is.  He  wants  to  know 
how  the  holes  in  the  planer  rail  are  counterbored  from  the 
inside,  as  it  seems  a  physical  impossibility.  He  wants  to 


334  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 

understand  the  working  of  a  steam  engine.  He  wants  to  see 
a  planer  that  will  feed  downward  and  a  lathe  that  will  feed 
across.  He  wants  to  know  how  a  lathe  carriage  can  be  fed 
along  by  a  round  rod  with  a  key  way  in  it.  He  wants  to 
know  what  a  cutter  is,  and  what  is  meant  by  milling,  and 
how  gear  teeth  are  cut,  and  what  sort  of  a  thing  a  chuck 
is,  and  what  an  open  die  bolt  cutter  is,  and  what  is  meant 
by  scraping,  and  Low  they  plane  under  the  inside  edge  of 
a  lathe  bed,  and  how  they  turn  the  solid  pin  in  a  cross- 
head,  and  what  a  reamer  is  like,  and  a  rosebit,  and,  above 
all,  he  just  wants  to  try  a  twist  drill  once.  He  gets  all  the 
books  he  can  and  becomes  well  posted  on  the  steam  en- 
gine, and  becomes  anxious  to  see  one  larger  than  12",  or 
some  of  the  peculiar  forms  he  sees  in  the  books. 

*  *     *     *     The  boy  has,  so  far,  never  seen  a  machin- 
ist except  those  mentioned,  and  they  are  ignorant  and  in- 
experienced and  have  never  given   him  an  idea  which  he 
was  incapable  of  originating.      For  a  wonder,  the  idea  of  a 
large  and  extensive  shop  has  never  entered  his  head  ;  he 
has  never  seen  one,  nor  read  of  one,  nor  heard  of  one  ;  and 
has  never  thought  of  the  thing. 

He  becomes  an  expert  workman  on  the 
little  lathe  and  on  such  fitting  as  turns  up.  Owing  to  the 
poverty  of  tools,  every  day  calls  for  some  impossibility,  and 
every  day  he  manages  to  see  some  impossible  job  fin- 
ished. 

*  *     *     *     A  new  day  dawns  on  the  boy  in  his  sec- 
ond year.     The  boss  has  made   money  and  the  business 
increases  ;  the  shop  is  enlarged,  a  new  20-inch  lathe  is  pur- 
chased, and   a  new  man  is  coming  from  a  distant  world 
where  there  are  lots  of  machinists.     The  boy  can't  sleep  o' 
nights ;  he  wants  to  see  the  new  man.     What  will  he  be 
like? 

The  lathe  comes,  and  Johnnie  starts  it  up,  and  goes  all 
through  it  and  takes  it  all  in.  There  is  a  disappointment 
now  that  he  has  acquired  new  knowledge  :  one  of  the  future 


EXTRACTS  FROM' CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.     335 

pleasures  of  life  has  past.     He  has  seen  a  lathe  with  a  rod 
feed  and  cross  feed  and  chuck. 

He  hears  the  man  has  come  and  will  go  to  work  to- 
morrow. In  the  evening  he  slips  around  and  sees  the  -man 
through  a  window.  Another  pleasure  over.  The  man 
looks  just  like  other  men. 

*  *     *     *     The  new  machinist  is  an  intelligent  young 
fellow  whose   entire    experience    has    been    in    the  Great 
Northern  Railroad  shops.     He  is  disgusted  with  the  little 
shop,  but  he  has  sense,  and  goes  to  work  with  a  will.     The 
little  shop  can  afford  to  pay  big  wages.     He  takes  at  once 
to  Johnnie,  in  a  patronizing  way,  as  the  only  tolerable  ele- 
ment about  the  place.      Johnnie  takes  to  him,  and  pumps 
him  for  month  after  month  till  George  has  nothing  to  tell 
which  Johnnie  does  not  know. 

*  *     *     *     Revelation  kas    come    to   Johnnie.     The 
Great  Northern  shops  are  big — sixteen  lathes,  several  drill 
presses,  several  planers,  etc.,  etc.     He  hears  of  locomotives 
and  of  compound  planers,  and  hears  machinists  called  fin- 
ishers,  and  an  engine  a  "  stationary  ;"  and  this  man  has 
used  twist  drills,  and  can  explain  scraping  on  a  valve  seat. 

*  *     *     *     But  George  never  saw  a  boring  mill,  nor  a 
gear  cutter,  nor  any  kind  of  an   engine  except  stationary 
and  locomotives,   and  cannot  tell  how  the  inside  counter- 
boring  was  done  in  the  planer  rail.     And  Johnnie  instructs 
George  in  the  principles  of  .the  steam  engine  and  in  the 
scientific   theories  of   the  link  motion,  and   in  the  general 
structure  of  beam  engines,  trunk  engines,  side-lever  engines, 
Corliss  engines  and  condensing  engines — things  which  the 
boy  has  never  seen  except  in  his  well-thumbed  books. 

*  *     *      *     When    Johnnie's    three    years  are  up,  his 
wages  are  put  at  $3  per  day.     Three  months  more  and  an- 
other lathe   is  got  and   three  new   men  are  sent  for,  for 
Johnnie   to  pump.     They  are   drunken   ignoramuses   with 
nothing  in  them,  but  they  excite  in  Johnnie  an  irresistible 
desire  to  see  the  land  where  machinists  grow. 


336  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

SHAPES    AND    STYLES    OF    CHIMNEYS. MISTAKES   IN    BUILD* 

ING  CHIMNEY*S. HOW  THE    LADIES  SET  OUT  TO  IMPROVE 

A  DIRTY  CITY. MR.  SINTON's    PRIDE  IN  HIS    SMOKE  CON- 
SUMER. 

*  *     *     *     You  have  published  many  useful  drawings 
in    the    American  Machinist,   but    I   very  much    question 
whether  you  have  ever  shown  anything  more  needed  than 
Mr/  Towne's  chimney,  illustrated  in  a  late  issue.     A  chim- 
ney is  of  course  nothing  but  an  expensive  hole  for  smoke 
to  go  through.     The  books  are  full  of  formulas  for  ascer- 
taining the  proper  area  and  length  of  the  hole,  but  are 
generally  silent  as  to  the  methods  of  production. 

*  *     *     *     jn  constructing  the  hole,  safety  and  cost 
are  the  elements  to  be  considered.     A  sheet-iron  chimney, 
put  together  on  the  ground,  lifted  and  guyed  by  rods,  is, 
of  course,   a  perfect   chimney.     It  can  be  raised  on  any 
kind  of  soil  ;  it  costs  a  mere  trifle  compared  to  a  brick 
chimney  ;  it  can  be  lengthened  if  found  too  short  ;  it  can 
be  moved  in  two  days  if  wanted  in  a  new  position  ;  and  it 
is  salable  and  available  elsewhere  if    needed   no  longer. 
It  is  thus  seen  to  possess  some  merits  not  found  in  brick 
chimneys.     There  are  probably  three  hundred  sheet-iron 
chimneys  to  one  brick  one  in  this  country.     I  refer  to  fur- 
nace chimneys  or  smoke  stacks,  of  course. 

*  *     *     *     The  main  demerits  of  the  sheet-iron  chim- 
neys are  short  life  and  the  necessity  of  using  guys.     The 
necessity  of  frequent  painting  is  no  demerit,  as  the  paint 
money  goes  for  interest  in  brick  chimneys.     The  short  life 
of  sheet-iron  chimneys  is  due  to  the  quick  inside  corrosion 
through  the  thin  metal,  and  the  strength  of  the  metal  is 
not  sufficient  to  permit  a  base  hold  to  take  the  place  of 
guys.     The  sheet-iron  chimney  is  almost  universally  made 
round  and  straight.     The   only  decorative   features  ever 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  337 

seen  are  in  the  way  of  top  beads  and  paper  collars.  Some 
of  this  top  work  is  so  infernally  "  sheety  "  and  ugly  that  it 
should  send  the  designer  to  the  penitentiary. 

*  *     *     *     The  brick   chimney  needs  no   guys,   the 
immobility  of  a  heavy  mass  being  the  dependence  for  sta- 
bility.    When  a  designer,  who  is  governed  by  perfunctori- 
ness,  goes  at  a  brick  chimney,  he  reasons  after  this  manner  : 
I  want  area  of  hole  with  the  least  surrounding  material, 
and  of  course  a  circle  is  the  thing.     I  want  the  least  aggre- 
gate vertical  section  of  entire  chimney,  whereby  the  effect 
of  wind  pressure  is  reduced.     Of  course  the  circle  is  the 
thing.     Thus  a  round  chimney  is  determined  upon.     By  a 
perfectly  proper  analysis  of  the  strains,  our  designer  is  led 
to  construct  the  walls  with  a  thickness  decreasing  towards 
the  top  ;  and,  by  a  careful  consideration  of  the  relation 
of  the  volumes  of  gases  to  their  temperatures,  he  arrives 
at  the  fact  that  the  hole  may  be  tapering  towards  the  top. 

*  *     *     *     i^is  designer,  holding   to  the  rigid  pro- 
prieties of  things,  will  not  entertain  the  idea  of  a  shape 
more  beautiful  than  the  circular  one,  not  even  if  the  more 
beautiful  one  costs  less. 

But  after  all  he  will  ornament  the  top  of  this  ugly  but 
perfectly  proper  chimney.  The  ornamentation  may  be  a 
simple  ring  formed  of  projecting  halves  of  bricks,  or  it  may 
be  a  gorgeous  capital  taken  from  the  ancients,  but  it  will 
be  something  ornamental.  Our  chimney  designer  is  much 
like  a  certain  class  of  machine  tool  designers,  who  shape 
everything  about  the  lathe  with  a  view  to  its  proper  uses, 
strains,  etc.,  and  then  concentrate  their  aestheticism  in  the 
legs  of  the  lathe.  I  honor  all  these  men  for  their  inability 
to  make  a  thing  ugly  all  over. 

*  *     *     *     The  square  chimney  comes  from  a  desire 
to  cheapen  a  round  hole  by  constructing  it   of   common 
square  bricks  with  common  labor.     The  polygonal  chim- 
ney with  from  six  to  a  hundred  flats  is  an  approach  to  the 
circular  form  in  the  matter  of  economy  of  material  *,  it  ap- 


33^  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 

proaches  the  square  one  in  the  simplicity  of  form  of 
brick  required,  and  in  the  grade  of  labor.  They  possess 
inherent  qualities  of  beauty  which  do  the  heart  good  and 
don't  interfere  with  the  draft. 

*  *     *     *     The  fluted  brick  chimney,  having  sundry 
ribs  and  buttresses,  is  designed  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a 
tube  is  stronger,  against  flexion,  if  it  is  crimped  or  corru- 
gated.    Such  chimneys  have  a  capacity  for  beauty  not  found 
in  the  round  or  square  shapes,  but  the  top  ornamentation 
must  be  carefully  attended  to  or  the  eye  becomes  offended. 

*  *     *     *     Thg  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  which  has,  by 
the    way,    furnished    many    good    models    of    things    and 
precious  few  poor  ones,  builds  a  standard  chimney  of  brick. 
They  have  an  elegant  taper,  a  fluted  or  buttressed  section, 
and  a  flaring  top  of  the  most  dignified  beauty.   They  have 
lots  of  these  chimneys,  and  all  are  alike. 

*  *     *     *     A  few  miles  from  Philadelphia,  near  Ger- 
mantown   Junction,  I  think,  some  man  has  built  a  chimney 
patterned  after  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  chimney,  but  may 
the  Lord  have  mercy  on  him  for  the  errors  committed  !    Few 
men  could  ever  see  the  top  of  this  chimney  and  forget  it. 

I  believe  the  courts  have  decided  that  the  owner  of  real 
estate  has  title  from  the  earth's  center  to  the  uttermost 
limits  of  space.  This  being  true,  he  can  build  such  a  cel- 
lar as  he  likes  ;  he  can  build  such  a  chimney  as  he  likes  ; 
and  he  can  put  such  a  top  on  the  chimney  as  he  likes. 

But  I  question  his  right  to  abuse  the  privilege  by  erect- 
ing in  high  heaven  such  a  chimney  top  as  the  one  spoken 
of.  If  it  leaned  towards  Sawyer's  the  law  would  declare  it 
unsafe  and  command  its  destruction  or  correction. 

It  does  seem  that  the  law  could  have  some  effect  on  a 
chimney  leaning  so  far  towards  ugliness  as  to  endanger  the 
artistic  morals  of  a  neighborhood. 

*  *     *     *     Tall    chimneys    require    much    care    and 
judgment  in  the  construction   of  their  foundations.      On 
more  than  one  occasion  such  structures  have  been  built  on 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAL's   LETTERS.  339 

the  solid  rock,  and  after  years  have  shown  that  the  rock, 
while  solid,  was  not  big  enough  to  keep  them  from  tipping. 

*  #     *     *     Chimney  straightening  is  a  simple  art,  re- 
quiring simply  a  cool  judgment.     The  operation  consists  in 
taking  a  course  of  brick  out  of  the  long  side  of  the  chim- 
ney and  substituting  a  thinner  course,  or  in  wedging  up  the 
short  side  and  putting  in  a  thicker  course.     The  work  at 
the  Washington  monument  is  one  of  the  finest  examples  of 
chimney  straightening  on  record^ 

A  brick  chimney  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  feet  high  will  swing  from  two  to  six  feet  at  the  top. 
The  elasticity  of  the  structure  should  be  properly  propor- 
tioned from  bottom  to  top,  else  bottom  strains  may  be  im- 
posed through  too  rigid  a  lever. 

#  ••:--     *     *     The  man  who  builds  a  tall  slim  chimney 
alongside  a  big  tall  building,  and  takes  occasion  to  guy  the 
top  of  his  chimney  to  the  building,  generally  makes  a  mis- 
take.    The  building  and  chimney,  not  being  tuned  to  the 
same  pitch,  or  having  different  swings,  will  cause  trouble. 
The  chimney  will  become  subject  to  short  flexions  below 
the  guy.     Much  better  to  let  the  chimney  swing  as  it  wants 
to  and  distribute  the  swing  from  bottom  to  top. 

.-:;  *  *  *  There  is  another  kind  of  chimney,  better 
and  more  costly  than  a  sheet-iron  one,  and  as  good  and 
cheaper  than  a  brick  one,  and — it  is  handsome,  or  may  be. 
I  refer  to  a  chimney  made  of  plate  iron,  and  stiff  enough 
to  hang  by  its  bottom  hold.  These  chimneys  are  made  of  " 
plate  iron  varying  in  bottom  thickness  from  a  quarter  to  a 
half  an  inch,  and  the  top  iron  is  best  about  an  eighth.  A 
bottom  plate  with  a  nose  on  it  is  well  belted  to  the  founda- 
tion, and  the  first  course  of  iron  starts  from  the  nose. 
These  chimneys  are  heavy  to  start  on,  and  are  lined  with 
brick,  so  that  they  possess  certain  of  the  stable  features  of 
brick  chimneys  due  to  their  weight.  As  a  mobile  mass 
which  will  whip  around  in  the  wind,  it  must  have  the  elastic 
strength  to  whip  itself  back.  Its  base  hold  must  be  rigid. 


34°       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 

*  *     *     *     I  have  written  to  an  experienced  builder 
of  these  chimneys,  for  drawings  of  one  lately  erected  on 
the  shore  of  a  lake  where  the  winds  blow,  and  I  can  prob- 
ably soon  send  you  sketches  showing  all  details. 

*  *     *     *     There  are  two  ways  of  erecting  these  plate- 
iron  chimneys.     One  is  to  start  at  the  bottom  course  and 
rivet  in  place  each  successive  course,  using  an  inside  scaf- 
fold only.     The  other  plan  is  to  start  with  the  top  course, 
jack  it  up,  and  rivet  the  next  course  under  it,  and  so  on  till 
finally  the  bottom  course  is  put  in  place    and  riveted    at 
top    and    bottom.     Guys  are    used   during  the  operation. 
This  is  the    common    method    of    erecting    electric  light 
towers  or  masts,  which  are  simply  poles  built  of  plate-iron 
rings. 

*  *     *     *     Once  upon  a  time  a  dirty  city  built  in  a 
hollow  got  art  upon  its  social  and  municipal  brain.     This 
city  was  and  is  an  important  "manufacturing  place,  and 
burnt  and  still  burns  green  coal.     Industry  and  soft  coal 
and  art,  when  mixed  and  allowed  to  settle,  will  generally 
precipitate  the  art.     In  the  said  city  elegant  cornices,  with 
brackets,  modillions,  and  dentils  of  light  colored  material, 
danced    in    the    delight    of    high    light    and    shadow    and 
beauty.     But  the   dance   stopped   the  second  week  after 
the  cornices  were  up.     Smoke  blackened  everything,  and 
bracket  and  modillion  and  soffit  and  spandrel  and  volute 
and  abacus  all  lost  their  projections  and  high  lights,  and 
sank  into  the  dead  flat  of  sombreness. 

*  *     *     *     The  ggsthetes  protested  and  argued.     The 
smoke  makers  claimed  that  the  smoke  made  the  living  of 
the  town  and  paid  the  decorative  bills,  and  simply  soiled 
its  own  riches.     Nothing  could  be  done  so  long  as  argu- 
ment lasted. 

*  *     *     *     There  is  a  sex  which  substitutes  pleading 
for  argument.     The  ladies  organized  a  society  for  the  pre- 
vention of  smoke.     They  set  to  work  right  womanfully,  not 
to  prevent  the  smoke  they  made  themselves,  but  to  plead 


Mr.  Sinlon  is  very  proud  of  his  device,  and  has  almost  paralyzed 
his  forefinger.  —Page  344. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  343 

with  other  smoke  makers.  They  captured  the  town.  They 
talked  art  and  chemistry,  chiaroscuro  and  carbonic  oxide, 
Neapolitan  sunsets  and  the  smokeless  chimneys  of  Liver- 
pool. They  worshiped  at  the  shrine  of  the  smoke-con- 
suming god. 

*  *     *     *     Mr.  Sinton  was  one  of  the  most  wealthy, 
cultured,  and  foremost  men  of  the  town.     He  went  over  to 
the  ladies'  side,  and  pledged  his  wealth  and  numberless 
beautiful  buildings  and  his  business  abilities  to  the  cause 
of  the  prevention  of  smoke.     He  did  moie  than  talk  about 
smoke  prevention — he  set  to  work  to  prevent  the  smoke 
from  his  own   buildings.     In   short,  he  invented  a  smoke 
consumer,  and  spared  no  trouble  or  expense  in  applying 
them,  and  in  getting  good  firemen  to  operate  them. 

*  *     *     *     At    jast   the   municipal   government   itself 
became  inspired  with  an  indefinable  yearning  after  a  some- 
thing clean  and  smokeless. 

The  chimneys  had  become  a  bore,  and  the  city  powers 
decided  to  muzzle  the  entire  smoke  nuisance  with  an  ordi- 
nance. Charged  with  this  duty  they  vented  their  artistic 
feelings  in  an  ordinance  which  made  it  a  breach  of  the 
peace  for  any  big  chimney  to  smoke.  Dire  penalties  at- 
tached to  a  violation  of  the  law.  A  smoke  inspector  was 
appointed.  All  the  inventors  of  smoke-consuming  devices 
on  earth,  or  in  the  waters  under  the  earth,  moved  their 
headquarters  to  this  Utopian  city.  The  ordinance  did  not 
say  that  all  smoke  should  be  consumed,  but  it  said  that  all 
good  citizens  would  have  to  put  some  sort  of  a  machine  at 
their  furnaces  looking  toward  that  end. 

*  *     *     *     The  musjc  has   just  commenced.     More 
than  one  of  the  brass  knobs  has  already  seen  the  inside  of 
the  police  courts,  and  the  smoke  inspector  has  not  yet  got 
warmed  up  to  his  business.     The  line  of  action  mapped 
out  by  this  city  is  a  novel  one  in  this  country,  and  will  re- 
sult in  many  good  things  if  such  results  are  possible,  and 
when  the  battle  gets  a  little  warmer  I  will  try  and  get  you 


344  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

some  valuable  information  on  means  and  methods  of  burn- 
ing  soft  coal  without  smoke. 

*  *  *  *  Mr.  Sinton  is  very  proud  of  his  device,  and 
has  almost  paralyzed  his  forefinger  pointing,  with  pride,  to 
the  top  of  one  of  his  chimneys. 

He  got  hold  of  one  of  the  smoke  makers,  and  gave  him 
a  sidewalk  view  of  the  chimney  tip,  and  the  two  steadied 
their  eyes  and  concentrated  their  gaze  on  the  chimney. 
But  the  smoke  could  hardly  be  perceived.  They  went  be- 
low decks  to  see  how  it  worked,  but  there  had  been  no  fire 
built  fhat  day,  so  the  investigation  had  to  be  deferred. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS.  $45 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

MR.  BAKER  BUILDS  A  MILL  WITH  DOORS  AND  A  LEAN-TO. 
A  REFORMED  CONSUMPTIVE  PERSUADES  HIM  TO  IN- 
VEST IN  A  HYPHEN. — HOW  THINGS  TURNED  OUT. 

*  *     *     *     A  certain  Mr.  Baker,  within  the  range  of 
my  acquaintance,  has  a  mill,  and  grinds  up  wheat  for  a 
living. 

Mr.  Baker  is  a  progressive  man  in  his  section  of  the 
world,  but  elsewhere  he  might  be  looked  upon  as  a  fogy. 
We  look  upon  all  men  as  fogies,  who  fail  to  act  upon  the 
suggestions  of  well-established,  economical  principles  and 
practices.  May  it  not  be  true  that  many  of  these  fogies 
are  really  men  of  progress,  who  for  some  "  reasonable  " 
reason  cannot  accept  many  of  these  same  principles  and 
practices  as  "  established  "  ?  May  there  not  be  something 
in  the  atmosphere  surrounding  some  men,  which  perverts 
the  ordinary  established  laws  of  economy  ? 

*  *     *     *     i  know  Mr.  Baker  to  be  a  man  who  thinks 
for  himself  and  for  others,  and  a  man  alive  to  the  general 
advance  of  human  affairs.     But  when  you  see  his  mill,  you 
see  an  old-fashioned  mill,  with  a  roof  having  just  enough 
of  mansard  qualities  to  be  ugly  without  and  awkward  with- 
in— robbing  the  universe  of  space,  without  giving  it  to  the 
mill.     Such  a  roof  was  put  on  Mr.  Baker's  mill,  because 
Mr.  Baker  had  seen  profitable  mills  with  such  roofs  on 
them.     The  front  door  is  a  double-barreled  affair,  so  fixed 
that  the  top  section  can  be  opened  and  the  bottom  left 
shut,  or  the  bottom  can  be  opened  and  the  top  left  shut, 
or  both  be  opened,  or  both  be  left  shut.     This  door  is  cer- 
tainly a  very  ingenious  and  wonderfully  contrived  thing, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  a  very  useful  thing  to  have 
about  a  mill,  but  not  being  a  miller,  I  am  not  able  to  ex- 
plain its  special  utility  with  reference  to  mills.    I  only  know, 
that  when  the  two  several  doors  are  properly  adjusted  with 


346  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

reference  to  each  other,  and  to  the  mill,  and  to  the  miller, 
the  contrivance  is  very  handy  for  the  miller  to  lean  over 
when  he  looks  out  upon  the  world  from  within  the  mill. 
I  furthermore  know,  that  many  paying  mills  have  front 
doors  constructed  and  arranged  to  operate  substantially  as 
set  forth. 

Mr.  Baker  knew  this  also,  and  probably  saw  no  reason 
for  putting  in  any  other  kind  of  a  door.  Mr.  Baker  is  keen 
toi  act  on  established  certainty,  but  is  slow  in  matters  of 
risk. 

*  *  *  *  When  Mr.  Baker  built  his  mill  he.bui.t  a 
lean-to  behind  it.  This  was  for  an  engine  and  boiler  room. 
I  regret  being  unable  to  set  forth  the  advantages  of  the 
lean-to  in  industrial  architecture.  It  may  be  that  a  lean-to 
is  suggestive  of  growth.  I  think  it  must  be.  Certainly  a 
mill  or  any  other  sort  of  factory  building  which  is  self-con- 
tained, may  be  said  to  be  in  an  experimental  stage.  The 
thing  may  succeed  and  grow,  and  it  may  not.  But  when 
the  lean-to  begins  to  develop,  we  may  safely  judge  that  the 
business  has  grown  beyond  original  anticipations.  If  this 
is  a  reasonable  theory,  is  it  not  also  reasonable  for  a  miller 
to  build  the  lean-to  when  he  builds  the  mi'll  ?  Does  it  not, 
in  a  way,  show  confidence  in  the  expectation  that  the  mill 
business  will  exceed  present  anticipations  ?  Millers  are 
supposed  to  have  good  reasons  for  what  they  do,  and  Mr. 
Baker  built  a  lean-to  when  he  built  his  mill.  Mr.  Baker 
was  not  a  miller  then,  but  he  intended  to  be,  or  he  would 
not  have  built  the  mill. 

*  Within  Mr.  Baker's  lean-to  was  a  steam 
engine  of  a  popular  form,  designed  on  well-established 
principles  of  construction— that  is  to  say,  many  of  the  en- 
gines had  been  used  with  satisfaction  in  paying  mills. 

The  engine  was  a  plain,  long-stroke,  slide-valve,  rock- 
shaft  affair,  and  there  were  few  peculiarities  about.it. 

In  those  few  disparities  from  common  practice,  the  de- 
signer seemed  very  careful  not  to  tread  on  delicate  ground. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S   LETTERS.  *   34? 

The  exhaust  passage  all  round  and  all  over  the  cylinder, 
to  form  a  jacket  to  prevent  loss  of  heat,  while  not  common 
on  such  engines,  was  an  arrangement  whose  expediency 
was  obvious,  of  course.  So  also  was  the  small  cross-head 
friction  surface.  Anybody  could  appreciate  the  impor- 
tance of  so  proportioning  wearing  surface,  that  the  engine 
would  not  eat  all  its  power  up  in  its  own  friction.  The 
little  cross-head  brasses  were  of  brass,  as  all  brasses  should 
be  ;  and  there  were  set  screws  to  set  these  brasses  up  with. 
Anybody  could  see  that  this  set-screw  arrangement  had 
established  merit.  If  the  cross-head  got  out  of  line  it  could 
be  got  back  by  means  of  these  set  screws,  and  when  the 
brasses  wore  away,  the  set  screws  were  always  ready  to  set 
them  up. 

Another  merit  of  having  an  adjustment  on  the  cross-head 
was  this  :  If  the  engineer  set  the  brasses  so  tight  as  to  heat 
and  cut,  he  could  loosen  up  by  these  features  of  adjust- 
ment. Can  anything  be  plainer  ? 

If  there  were  no  means  of  adjustment,  how  in  the  world 
could  he  loosen  up  things  that  would  in  some  manner  get 
too  tight  ?  There  being  take-ups  all  over  the  engine,  it  is 
only  to  be  expected  that  sometimes  something  would  be 
left  so  loose  as  to  pound.  In  such  cases  an  adjustable 
cross-head  is  of.  incalculable  value,  because  the  engineer 
can  tighten  up  the  cross-head,  and  thus  see  if  that  is  where 
the  knocking  comes  from.  An  important  function  is  thus 
seen  to  be  added  to  a  common  cross-head,  for  it  may  be- 
come the  seat  of  a  knock,  and,  having  features  of  adjust- 
ment, the  knock  can  be  stopped ;  while,  if  the  cross-head 
was  not  adjustable,  the  knocks  would  probably  be  concen- 
trated in  those  parts  of  the  engine  which  were  adjustable. 
What  engine  could  stand  this  for  any  length  of  time  ? 
Imagine  an  engine  adjustable  only  at  the  crank  brasses. 
Would  not  all  the  knocking  occur  at  this  point,  and  would 
not  these  brasses  soon  knock  themselves  to  pieces,  and 
would  not  the  engineer  have  to  devote  himself  and  his 


348  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's   LETTERS. 

wrench  solely  to  those  brasses  ?  How  much  better,  then, 
to  put  set  screws  in  the  cross-head,  and  in  the  eccentric 
strap,  and  in  the  outer  pillow  block,  and  in  the  piston  pack- 
ing ?  By  this  simple  means  it  is  possible  for  a  knock  to 
be  stopped  without  really  touching 'the  cross-head,  for  the 
knock  may  be  elsewhere. 

*  *     *     *     Mr  Baker's  engine  had  a  long  stroke  and 
a  slow  motion,  and  it  had  them  bad.     But  the  engine  was 
simply  an  element  in  the  mill,  and  its  duty,  in  its  small 
way,  was  to  produce  rotary  motion  of  certain  mill  machin- 
ery by  methods  whose  utility  had  been  established. 

This  engine  not  only  had  a  long  stroke,  but  it  had  also 
a  short  valve,  by  means  of  which  the  steam  could  be  util- 
ized during  the  entire  stroke.  What  would  be  the  use  of 
having  a  good  long-stroke  engine,  and  then  only  using  the 
steam  port  (where  all  the  power  must  come  from)  a  part  of 
the  time  ?  No,  sir  !  No  cutting  off  in  this  engine — not 
this  stroke,  anyhow.  Maybe,  when  the  engine  was  built, 
it  was  intended  to  cut  off  a  little  ;  but  it  had  deferred  do- 
ing so  from  one  stroke  to  another  till  the  desire  had 
passed  away. 

*  *     *     *     Mr.  Baker's  smoke-stack  pointed  to  perpet- 
ually sunny  skies.     The  invigorating  influence  of  contrast- 
ing seasons  was   lacking  in   Mr.   Baker's  latitude.      Mr. 
Baker's    mind   was    always    progressive,    as   hereinbefore 
stated,  but  I  have  noticed  that  Mr.  Baker's  progressive  ac- 
tions of  body  partook  of  the  nature  of  impulsive  spurts 
after  certain  visits  to  lands  of  snow. 

*  *     *     *     The  consumption  of  coal  per  horse  power 
per  hour  does  not  depend  so  much  upon  the  geological 
conditions  of  a  locality,  as  upon  the  geographical  location. 
A  high  price  for  coal  does  not  insure  that  means  for  econ- 
omy in  its  use  will  be  applied.     Statistics  of  energy,  ap- 
plied to  observations  for  latitude,  will  furnish  data  for  get- 
ting at  the  geographical  efficiency  of  the  steam  engine. 

*  *     *     *     jn  ]y[r    Baker's  lean-to  there  was  a  door, 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  349 

through  which  the  fireman  carried  his  coal.  It  was  a  very 
ordinary  door,  such  as  becomes  the  lean-to  of  a  mill.  In 
the  front  of  the  mill  there  was,  as  stated,  a  proper  and  be- 
coming form  of  double  door,  out.  of  which  went  the  bar- 
rels of  flour.  Here  we  have  another  example  of  the  in- 
scrutable ways  of  the  mill  :  a  double  door  to  let  flour  out, 
and  only  a  single  door  to  let  coal  in — and  a  full-stroke 
slow-motion  engine  at  that  ! 

*  *     *     *     Many  years  ago,  while  lots  of  coal  was  be- 
ing crowded  through  the  little  door  in  Mr.  Baker's  lean-to, 
and  while  a  little  flour   was    finding   exit   without    wire- 
drawing through  Mr.  Baker's  big  double  door,  and  while 
Mr.  Baker  was  making  money  on  the  operation  of  these 
doors,  a  young  man   walked   out  of  the  front  door  of  a 
Northern  technical  college  with  a  thesis,  a  sheepskin,  and  a 
title.     He  was  an  M.  E.,  and  knew  about  logarithms,  den- 
sities, and  things.     He  settled  by  a  lakeside,  took  a  sneez- 
ing fit,  tore  something  inside  of  him,  commenced  to  spit 
blood,  and  was  told  to  "  drop  all  hard  work,"  and  journey 
to  a  sunny  land  to  save  his  life.    He  took  his  indicators  and 
density  tables,  and  in  a  week  became  an  invalid  loafer  in 
the  office  of  Mr.  Baker's  Southern  mill.     His  name  was 
McCann. 

*  *     *     *     McCann  had  never  seen  the  inside  of  a 
mill  before,  and  had  only  seen  about  a  dozen  engines,  but 
he  gathered  in  books  the  experience  of  men  who  had  seen 
lots  of  engines  and  mills.  •  He  was  good  company  for  Mr. 
Baker,  and  he  employed  himself  by  applying  mathematical 
constants  to  the  things  in  the  mill.     He  counted  the  speed 
of  a  big  pulley,  and   then  figured  how  fast  the  little  one 
was  driven  by  it.     Then  he  counted  the  little  one,  and 
found  that  things  didn't  agree.     He  kept  on  figuring,  and 
maybe  he  is  figuring  yet. 

*  *     *     *     He  figured  out  something  awful  in   Mr. 
Baker's  engine  room,  and  with  blanched  face  he  told  Mr. 
Baker  that  he  was  using  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of 


350       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

coal  to  the  barrel  of  flour.     Mr.  Baker  said  he  didn't  care 
if  it  took  a  ton — he  was  making  money. 

McCann  tried  to  contract  for  Mr.  Baker's  power,  and 
offered  to  go  to  the  expense  of  a  lean-to  and  a  good  en- 
gine, in  consideration  of  a  yearly  sum  equal  to  the  present 
coal  bills.  Mr.  Baker  would  listen  to  nothing  of  this  kind  ; 
he  told  of  many  such  mill  outfits  doing  well  financially, 
and  pointed  to  his  own  case,  which  was  entirely  satisfac- 
tory ;  the  trick  of  successful  milling  being  to  buy  wheat  low 
and  sell  flour  high. 

*  *     *     *     jn  Course  of  time,  argument  upon  produc- 
tive economy  and  a  showing  of  facts  prevailed,  and  Mr. 
Baker  built  a  new  lean-to  and  ordered  a  Hyphen-Corliss 
engine.     The  machine  was  set   up,  and   McCann,  to  keep 
himself  from  dying  of  inactivity,  assumed  charge  as  engi- 
neer, a  position  of  pride  in  his  case,  for  he  refused  pay.  He 
was  in  good  circumstances  ;  and  if  he   should  accept   pay 
he  might  be  charged  with  doing  the  hard  work  forbidden 
by  the  doctors. 

*  *     *     *      After   a   week's   run,    McCann    informed 
Baker  that  he  was  running  on  forty  pounds  of  coal  to  the 
barrel  of  flour.     Mr.  Baker  didn't  seem  to  care  if  he  was, 
but  was  proud  of  the  engine  because  it  was  nice.  McCann 
said   he  would  get  things  into  shape  to  do  better  still. 
Baker  didn't  care.  He  might  be  glad  if  McCann  succeeded, 
but  would  not   waste  any   unnecessary   effort   in   getting 
sorry  if  he  failed. 

*  *     *     *     McCann   stood  by  his  engine  like  a  man, 
kept  his  indicators  on  all  the  time,  and  got  results  out  of 
the  thing  which  would  startle  Hyphen  himself.     The  for- 
bidden work  restored  his  health,  and  he  went  again  to  the 
lake  side.     Mr.  Baker  was  sorry  to  see  him  go,  for  he  had 
thoroughly  appreciated  the  companionship  of   the  young 
man.     As  to  the  changes  wrought  in  the  mill  he  cared 
nothing. 

*  *     *     *     The  old  engineer  took  the  new  engine  and 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS.  353 

liked  it.  As  defects  developed  in  the  engine  he  remedied 
them  the  best  he  could,  without  much  work  or  much  knowl- 
edge. A  claw  block  wore  out  in  course  of  time,  and  he 
put  a  new  one  in.  This  one  wore  out  quickly,  and,  to 
avoid  the  labor  of  replacing  them,  he  invented  a  slight 
change  in  the  claw  device  which  prevented  the  let-go,  and 
thus  saved  the  blocks  from  all  wear.  From  this  brilliant 
step  he  was  naturally  led  to  an  investigation  into  the  gov- 
ernor, which  seemed  to  be  useless  and  in  the  wrong  place. 
The  miller  was  complaining,  in  a  languid  sort  of  a  way, 
about  the  irregular  speed.  Finally,  the  governor  of  the 
old  engine  was  put  on  the  new  engine,  and  then  the  speed 
began  to  behave  itself. 

*  *  *  *  A  gentleman  wrote  to  Mr.  Baker  asking 
for  information  regarding  his  experience  with  this  engine. 
He  replied  that  it  was  a  very  good  engine,  and,  with  some 
trifling  changes  made  by  the  engineer,  was  giving  perfect 
satisfaction.  Said  he  did  not  see  why  it  was  not  every  bit 
as  good  as  the  old  engine,  and  he  knew  it  to  be  very  much 
better  looking.  Said  he  was  making  money  in  the  busi- 
ness. 


354       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER    XL. 

MR.  MARLING  THE  MOULDER. HIS  INDUSTRIAL  AND    SOCIAL  HAB- 
ITS.  HIS  EFFORTS    TO  MAKE    HIS    CO-WORKERS    MISERABLE, 

HOW  THEY  APPRECIATED  HIS  EFFORTS. 

*  *  *  *  Mr.  William  Marling  is  a  moulder.  He  is 
a  very  common  moulder,  and  does  only  the  commonest 
kind  of  work.  It  cannot  be  charged  that  he  has  a  soul 
above  his  business.  Somebody  might  raise  the  question 
whether  it  could  be  proven  that  he  has  a  soul  at  all,  or  that 
he  has  any  idea  that  he  has  a  business.  I  think  he  confines 
himself  to  the  idea  that  he  is  a  moulder. 

Mr.  Marling  is  not  the  kind  of  a  man  to  make  anything 
but  a  moulder  out  of — anything  but  the  very  commonest 
kind  of  a  moulder,  I  mean.  It  was  a  happy  thought  which 
suggested  to  Mr.  Marling  the  choice  of  a  vocation,  suppos- 
ing, of  course,  that  he  thought  some  before  choosing.  With 
a  full  knowledge  of  Mr.  Marling's  intellectual,  moral,  and 
social  qualities,  in  case  I  had  been  appealed  to  to  select 
his  vocation,  I  should  have  set  him  to  work  in  the  mould- 
ing shop,  provided  I  could  see  plenty  of  very  common 
moulding  to  do,  so  that  his  energy  would  not  outrun  his 
supply  of  work,  and  providing  I  cared  nothing  for  the 
other  moulders,  who  would  thus  be  favored  with  Mr.  Mar- 
ling's  company. 

With  such  a  grade  of  moulding  as  would  call  for  special 
skill,  or  special  anything,  in  view,  or  with  a  care  for  the 
moulders  already  at  work,  I  hardly  think  I  would  have 
recommended  the  foundry  to  Mr.  Marling,  or  Mr.  Marling 
to  the  foundry,  rather. 

Mr.  Marling  is  not  only  the  commonest 
kind  of  a  moulder,  but  is  also  a  painfully  common  kind  of 
a  man. 

As  a  moulder  there  is  but  little  in  Mr.  Marling  which  draws 
him  toward,  or  appeals  to,  the  warm  and  sympathetic  feel- 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS.       355 

ings  of  other  moulders.  When  Mr.  Marling  gets  burnt  in 
the  foundry  the  other  moulders  seem  to  feel  just  about  as 
they  would  if  Mr.  Marling  had  not  been  burnt.  When 
Mr.  Marling  mashed  his  nose  by  stumbling  over  a  shank 
ladle,  no  one  seemed  called  upon  to  think  of  arnica  till  the 
owner  of  the  shop  came  in  and  saw  the  nose  ;  no  moulder 
thought  of  going  after  arnica  till  the  owner  went  himself, 
and  when  the  owner  and  arnica  came  back,  no  moulder 
thought  of  rubbing  the  arnica  on  the  nose  till  they  saw  the 
owner  doing  it.  They  thought  Mr.  Marling  would  rub  the 
arnica  on  his  nose  himself  ;  that  is  if  they  thought  any- 
thing about  Mr.  Marling  at  all. 

The  owner  of  the  shop  was  a  moulder,  and  might  have 
many  reasons  for  ministering  to  Mr.  Marling's  mashed 
nose,  but  I  think  he  had  no  reasons  which  the  other  mould- 
ers didn't  have.  Maybe  the  owner  was  a  little  warmer,  or  a 
little  quicker,  or  a  little  smarter,  or  a  little  broader  in  the 
mind  than,  the  other  moulders.  Maybe  that  would  also 
account  for  his,  instead  of  the  other  moulders,  owning  the 
shop.  Who  knows  ?  It  don't  make  any  difference  any- 
how. Somebody  had  to  own  the  shop,  or  else  there 
wouldn't  be  any  shop  :  and  if  there  were  no  moulding 
shops  what  would  the  moulders  do,  and  what  particular 
trade  would  Mr.  Marling  have  been  forced  to  choose  ? 

*  *  *  *  Mr  Marling  is  about  forty  years  old.  He 
has  been  working,  or  occupied  rather,  at  his  trade  of  com- 
mon moulding  for  about  twenty-five  years.  During  that 
long  twenty-five  years  he  has  never  brought  into  the  mould- 
ing shop  a  single  idea  which  would  tend  to  advance  the 
moulder's  trade,  or  an  idea  which  would  tend  to  advance 
the  joys  and  pleasures  of  a  moulder's  life,  or  an  idea  which 
would  in  any  degree  add  to  the  happiness  of  a  moulder's 
wife  or  a  moulder's  children.  I  know  moulders  who  go  to 
work  in  a  moulding  shop,  and  give  a  new  tone  to  the  sandy 
atmosphere  around  them.  Moulders  change  in  life  and 
character  when  these  men  come  into  contact  with  them. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

When  they  go  there  is  real  hand  shaking  with  something  in 
the  touch  of  it,  and  there  are  thoughts  remaining.  Mr. 
Marling  is  not  that  kind  of  a  moulder. 

*  *     *     *     If  an    association   with   Mr.    Marling   has 
any  effect  at  all  on  his  fellow  moulders,  it  is  to  make  them 
less  happy.     If  a  moulder  has  hopes  in  life  ;  if  he  finds  a 
certain  pleasure  in  labor  ;  if  he  goes  home  nightly  to  a 
home  of  his  own,  and  has  his  fun  with  his  wife  and  babies  ; 
if  he  sees  the  comfort  and  pleasures  of  these  gradually  in- 
creasing as  the  accumulation  of  his  labor  increases  ;  if  the 
little  wrinkles  in  his  face  are  all  wrinkles  of  general  good 
will  to  all  who  live  ;  these  things  are  not  bettered  one  whit 
after  contact  with  Mr.  Marling. 

If  he  has  hopes,  Mr.  Marling  tells  him  to  give  them  up. 
If  he  can  be  pleasant  while  he  works,  Mr.  Marling  tells 
him  never  to  be  gay  at  a  funeral.  If  he  steps  lightly  to- 
ward his  front  gate,  Mr.  Marling  sours  him  by  pointing  to 
somebody  else's  gate,  which  is  a  bigger  gate.  Mr.  Marling 
changes  the  wrinkles  in  moulders'  faces. 

*  *     *     *     Notwithstanding    nobody    cares    for    Mr. 
Marling,  Mr.  Marling  has  an  effect  wherever  he  goes. 

Mr.  Marling  carries  his  sole  possessions  in  a  very  poor 
sort  of  a  satchel. 

Mr.  Marling  has  worked  twenty-five  years,  but  he  has  no 
nice  moulding  tools.  He  has  no  nice  clothes.  He  has  no 
nice  home.  He  has  no  family.  He  has  no  books,  no 
watch,  no  fiddle,  no  nothing.  He  has  no  parents,  or 
brothers,  or  sisters,  or  close  warm  friends.  He  has  never 
been  troubled  with  sickness. 

It  seems  sad  to  work  in  a  dirty  moulding  shop  for  twen- 
ty-five years,  and  then  only  own  a  trowel,  two  slicks,  and 
two  ratty  suits  of  clothes.  It  seems  sad  not  to  have  any 
ties  or  hopes  in  the  world.  But  this  is  the  case  with  Mr. 
Marling.  Mr.  Marling's  efforts  to  make  himself  a  misera- 
able  man,  a  serf,  a  slave,  a  specimen  of  all  that  is  unpleas- 
ant, seem  successful  in  themselves,  but  Mr.  Marling  has 


Mr.  Marling  takes  an  inventory—a  trowel,  two  slicks,  and  two  ratty 
suits  of  clothes. — Page  356. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  359 

a  mission  which  extends  beyond  himself.  Mr.  Mailing's 
effort  to  pioduce  certain  conditions  seems  to  take  in  all 
the  moulders.  Mr.  Marling  is  generous  with  his  misery. 
He  has  had  experience  in  turning  human  life  to  nothing, 
and  he  proposes  to  have  all  other  moulders  understand  the 
art.  In  this  transfusion  of  ideas  Mr.  Marling  is  more  suc- 
cessful than  he  is  in  common  moulding.  He  seems  to 
have  devoted  more  of  his  mind  to  the  former  work.  True, 
he  gets  paid  for  his  common  moulding,  and  gets  no  thanks 
even  for  his  earnest  efforts  in  making  moulders  sick  of  life. 
His  is  a  labor  of  love. 

Love  of  what  ?  It's  hard  to  tell.  If  Mr.  Marling  sees 
a  moulder  with  a  home  and  pleasures  and  worldly  goods 
and  hopes,  Mr.  Marling  tells  him  that  he  should  have 
everything  in  an  ugly  satchel  so  he  could  growl  at  fate. 

Mr.  Marling  thinks  his  own  condition  the  normal  condi- 
tion of  a  true  moulder,  and  when  he  sees  a  moulder  who 
seems  to  have  been  born  into  the  world  to  live,  he  proceeds 
at  once  to  treat  his  abnormal  case. 

*  *  *  *  When  Mr.  Marling  goes  to  work  in  a  mould- 
ing shop  he  at  once  assumes  charge  of  the  miseries  of  all 
the  moulders.  If  he  finds  a  foolish  moulder  with  no  miser- 
ies, he  lends  him  a  stake  and  shows  him  how  to  increase  it. 
He  lays  out  all  the  work  for  the  men.  Before  he  has  been 
in  a  shop  three  days  he  has  told  every  man  just  how  much 
work  he  should  put  up  per  day.  The  men  don't  care  for 
Marling,  but  there  is  something  about  him  which  stays  by 
them  and  goes  home  with  them  and  mixes  into  their  home 
life. 

They  can  wash  facing  dust  off  their  bodies,  but  at  home 
they  find  a  marling  kind  of  a  something  about  their  persons 
which  won't  rub  off.  It  is  unpleasant  to  wife  and  children, 
but  it  stays.  Besides  portioning  out  the  work  for  the  men, 
Mr.  Marling  sometimes  undertakes  the  adjustment  of  wages. 
Long  as  I  have  known  Mr.  Marling,  I  have  never  known 
him  to  increase  a  moulder's  pay.  He  devotes  himself  to 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

reductions.  If  a  moulder  earns  a  little  too  much  money, 
Mr.  Marling  will  commence  on  the  matter  at  once.  The 
generous  Mr.  Marling  wants  all  moulders  to  partake  of  his 
own  miseries  and  to  work  for  his  own  pay. 

*  *     *     *     Tne  jjea  Of  jy[r  Marling  making  an  indivi- 
dual effort  to  increase  his  own  pay  would  seem  queer  to  any 
one  who  knows  him.     An  underpaid  moulder  is  Mr.  Mar- 
ling's  delight.     A  well  paid  man  is  his  abomination. 

Point  out  to  Mr.  Marling  a  moulder  earning  good  wages, 
and  you  will  see  pain  pictured  on  the  face  of  misery.  Soon, 
however,  the  pain  will  give  way  to  pleasure,  for  he  has  labor 
before  him — a  labor  of  love.  Love  for  what  ? 

*  *     *     *     Qn  severai  occasions  Mr.  Marling  has  made 
efforts  to  raise  the  pay  of  moulders,  but  when  he  found  out 
that  certain  moulders  took  advantage  of  such  increase  of 
pay  to  surround  themselves  and  their  homes  with  more  of 
the  good  things  and  good  feelings  of  life,  he  saw  that  he 
was  working  in  the  wrong  direction.     Mr.  Marling   talks 
"  live  and  let  live,"  but  a  moulder  must  be  very  careful 
how  he  lives  in   Mr.  Marling's   view.     Once  Mr.  Marling 
struck  a  shop  where  every  moulder  in  it  owned  a  house  and 
lot,  and  had  it  all  paid  for.     Then  Mr.  Marling  was  in  real 
pain,  but  he  set  to  work  manfully.     He  pointed  to  these 
moulders  pictures  of  the  most  finished  misery  and  discon- 
tentment.    He  commenced  to  regulate  the  amount  of  work 
each  should  do.     He  found  one  man  getting  a  nickel  a  day 
too  much,  and  he  tried  to  fix  it. 

He  pointed  to  his  own  example,  and  invited  them  to  fol- 
low it  by  heeding  his  words. 

But  it  was  all  no  good.  These  foolish  prosperous 
moulders  not  only  would  not  be  taught  by  the  experienced 
Mr.  Marling,  but  they  incontinently  kicked  him  out  of  the 
shop  and  out  of  the  town,  and  hustled  his  satchel  and  his 
trowel  and  his  two  slicks  after  him. 

Mr.  Marling  thinks  there  are  some  queer  moulders  in 
this  world. 


EXTRACTS   FRQM    CHORDAL'S   LETTERS.  361 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

LOOKING  FOR  A  COAL  VASE  WITH  TRUNNIONS. THE  CON- 
FUSION AMONG  CATALOGUES.  —  A  HARDWARE  CLERK'S 
SYSTEM. — BENNETT'S  SYSTEM  OF  KEEPING  CATALOGUES. 
— CHORDAL'S  OWN  SYSTEM. 

*  *     *     *     A  short  time  ago  I  wanted  a  fancy  coal 
vase  to  set  alongside  a  fireplace.     I  went  to  a  hardware 
store  and  was  shown  some.     They  didn't  suit  me.     I  said 
I  wanted  one  hung  on  trunnions,  so  it  would  tip  down. 
Hardware  man  said  he  never  heard  of  such  a  thing.     I  told 
him  to  bring  out  his  catalogues,  find  the  thing  and  order 
one  for  me.     He  led  me  back  to  the  office,  and  pulled  out 
a  drawer  which  contained  about  half  a  bushel  of  mixed-up 
trade  catalogues,  some  in  fair  shape,  some  "  busted  "  and 
separated  into  fragments,  some  sheet  pieces  crumpled  up, 
and  all  in  a  state  of  chaos.     The  subject  of  catalogues  drove 
the  coal  vase  out  of  my  mind,  and  I  watched  the  search. 

*  *     *     *     The  first  catalogue  picked  out  was  a  gor- 
geous volume  on  plated  ware.     Dealer  fumbled  over  it 
aimlessly,  and  tnen  laid  it  aside  decisively.     Of  course,  he 
knew  that  firm  didn't  make  things  for  coal. 

The  next  was  an  illustrated  dissertation  on  chandeliers 
and  lamp  hangings.  This  received  the  same  fumbling  be- 
fore being  laid  aside.  The  next  was  a  stove  catalogue,  and 
called  for  a  careful  inspection  from  preface  to  finis.  The 
next  was  a  barn-door  sized  sheet  of  artificial  wood  orna- 
ments. It  was  opened,  scanned,  and  laid  aside.  Next,  a 
small  folder  listing  numerous  night  latches  ;  then  a  note 
sheet  in  solid  text,  which  was  read  entire  to  see  if  it  said 
anything  about  coal  vases  hung  on  trunnions  ;  next,  a  cata- 
logue of  stamped  tinware.  This  was  getting  hot,  and  I  saw 
the  librarian  scanning  closely  each  cut  of  a  bread  box,  or 
a  cake  pan,  or  match  safe.  Next  came  a  piece  of  a  cata- 
logue commencing  and  ending  with  coal  scuttles.  Thinks 


362       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL*S  LETTERS. 

I,  if  this  man  has  the  luck  to  find  one  of  the  other  pieces 
to  that  scrap,  he  may  find  what  we  want. 

Then  came  a  general  hardware  catalogue,  whose  index 
failed  to  show  the  proper  thing.  Then  came  more  silver' 
ware,  and  more  locks,  and  more  hardware,  and  more  stoves 
and  moulds,  and  chandeliers,  and  screws,  and  tinware,  and 
stamped  and  japanned  ware,  and  wire  work,  and  folders 
and  price  sheets  without  number,  and  then  came  the  bot- 
tom of  the  drawer,  and  then  bang  went  the  litter  back  into 
the  drawer,  and  then  the  hardware  man  said,  "  I  can't 
find  it." 

*  *     *     *     He  didn't  find  it,  and  he  could  not  have 
found  it  if  it  had  been  in  that  drawer,  as  no  doubt  it  was. 
He  didn't  seem  to  know  how  to  find  anything  except  by  a 
random  search  among  everything. 

I  did  not  care  much  about  the  coal  vase, 
but  I  had  got  interested  in  the  catalogue  business.  I  went 
to  another  hardware  store,  and  was  met  by  a  youth  about 
eighteen  years  old. 

Told  him  I  wanted  a  coal  vase.  He  showed  me  some. 
I  said  I  wanted  one  on  trunnions  so  it  would  tip  down. 
Youth  bit  his  lip  and  said  he  never  had  heard  of  such  a 
thing,  but  if  I  would  step  back  in  the  office  he  would  in- 
vestigate. We  went,  and  before  I  could  count  ten  this 
young  man  laid  four  catalogues  on  the  desk;  before  I  could 
count  ten  more  he  looked  through  certain  pages  in  each  of 
the  four,  and  said  to  me,  "  I  find  no  such  thing,  and  can 
only  get  further  information  by  writing  to  the  parties." 

*  *     *     *     This  chap  was  "  business  "  when  it  came 
to  a  question  of  catalogues,  and  I  proposed  to  see  more  of 
him.     The  following  conversation  took  place  : 

Chordal. — How  do  you  know  that  coal  vase  isn't  in  some 
of  your  catalogues  ? 

Clerk. — Because  we  only  have  four  catalogues  from 
houses  handling  that  class  of  goods.  Here  they  are,  and 
I  see  nothing  of  it. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  363 

ChordaL — How  do  you  know  that  you  have  not  had  half 
a  dozen  extra  sheets  or  slips  from  Winchell  since  you  got 
that  catalogue  of  him  ? 

Clerk. — I  don't  know  it.  I  know  I  have,  and  I  know 
the  contents  of  every  such  sheet  is  noted  here  in  the  cata- 
logue. See  here.  See  this  spittoon  scratched  out.  That 
shows  that  its  manufacture  is  discontinued.  We  got  no- 
tice to  that  effect.  See  this  cash  box  with  its  pencil  note. 
"  No  tray  in  this  size."  We  got  notice  to  that  effect. 
See  this  note,  "  See  circular  in  back  ; "  that  was  too  long 
to  write  in.  Here  is  an  illustrated  sheet  pasted  in  the 
book,  and  forms  part  of  the  catalogue,  and  here  in  the 
front  is  pasted  the  last  discount  sheet.  Some  houses  get 
up  their  catalogues  and  extra  sheets-  so  as  to  be  added  to 
catalogue  in  nice  style,  and  I  wish  they  would  all  do  it. 
Sometimes  we  get  a  notice  of  change  of  price  or  style, 
which  don't  mean  anything  till  we  trace  it  back  through 
half  a  dozen  previous  amendments.  This  forces  us  to  keep 
all  the  circulars,  though  their  effect  is  obsolete. 

ChordaL — There's  Sidney  Shepard  &  Co.'s  catalogue. 
How  do  you  know  that  is  the  last  one,  or  that  my  swiv- 
eling  coal  vase  isn't  in  a  previous  one  ? 

Clerk. — This  is  Sidney  Shepard  &  Co.'s  catalogue  to 
date  and  complete.  We  get  the  new  ones  as  soon  as  issued. 
If  the  new  one  is  a  supplement  to  the  old  one,  I  fasten  it 
to  the  old  one,  or  write  "  See  our  supplement "  on  the  title 
of  the  old  one.  If  the  new  one  is  a  substitutive  catalogue, 
I  burn  the  old  one  up.  We  have  not  a  full  line  of  cata- 
logues by  any  means,  but  I  can  quickly  get  at  anything  in 
what  we  have  got. 

ChordaL — How  do  you  keep  them  in  shape  for  quick 
reference  ? 

Clerk. — Easily  enough.  I  pencil  a  number  on  each  one, 
and  pile  them  up  in  consecutive  order.  This  list  pasted 
on  the  wall  gives  the  number  of  any  firm's  catalogue,  and 
tells  whether  it  is  in  the  bottom  of  the  pile  or  in  the  top. 


3^4  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

That's  about  all  there  is  of  it,  except  that  they  are  put  back 
in  place  each  time  they  are  used. 

ChordaL — How  about  little  sheets,  circulars,  folders, 
card  notices,  etc.?  They  are  not  stuck  in  that  pile,  are 
they  ? 

Clerk. — Yes,  they  are.  See  here:  The  list  says,  "Yale 
locks,  26,  and  En.  17."  That  means  that  there  is  a  Yale 
catalogue,  which  is  number  26,  and  also  some  Yale  stuff  in 
one  of  those  big  envelopes  marked  number  17.  Here  it 
is  now.  You  see  this  little  thing  is  a  catalogue  by  itself, 
and  should  not  be  pasted  in  the  main  catalogue.  You  see 
it  marked  "  En.  17,"  so  we  will  know  where  to  put  it  when 
done  with  it. 

*  *     *     *     I  arranged  about  the  future  of  the  coal  vase 
on  trunnions,  so  it  would  tip,  and  went  off  admiring  the 
evidence  of  system,  small  as  it  was,  which  this  clerk  in  a 
retail  hardware  store  had  seen  fit  to  produce. 

*  *     *     *     if  catalogues  are  much  to  the  hardware 
store,  they  are  more  to  the  machine  shop.     The  item  from 
a  catalogue  stands  on  its  own  value  and  profit  in  a  store, 
but  in  the  shop  it  may  be  a  key  note  and  turning  point  on 
a  heavy  job. 

*  *     *     *     Queer  things  happen  in  regard  to  printed 
matter.  I  knew  Walker  to  tumble  over  his  printed  matter  for 
three  days  to  find  the  price  of  a  three -inch  tube  expander. 
He  had  the  list,  and  should  have  been  able  to  find  it  in  three 
minutes.     Rockwell  held  a  customer  around  all  day  while 
he  tried  to  find  out  if  Judson's  governor,  fitted  as  a  Saw- 
yer's cut  off,  was  in  the  market.     He  finally  telegraphed, 
and   ten   minutes   later   uncovered    the  identical  circular 
searched  for.     A  two-dollar   safety  valve   or  check   valve 
will  often  call  for  a  three-dollar  search  in  drawers,  pigeon 
holes,  boxes,  barrels,  and  what  not.     Inch  and  three-quar- 
ter gas  pipe  must  be  ordered  at  least  once  before  it  is 
discovered  that  there  is  no  such  thing,  when  the  papers  in 
the  case  are  inevitably  on  hand — /.  e.,  somewhere,  if  we 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  365 

only  knew  where  to  look  for  them.  Pipe  fittings,  such  as 
crosses,  odd  tees  and  manifolds,  are  always  a  puzzle.  Some 
office  men  settle  this  thing  at  once  and  forever  by  pasting 
a  long-searched-for  circular  on  the  wall,  and  then  they  sink 
into  ignorance  of  all  the  things  not  so  pasted. 

*  *  *  *  I  Was  in  Bennett's  office,  and  had  an  eye 
for  his  plan  of  dealing  with  printed  matter.  He  has  a 
case  containing  fifty  drawers,  numbered  plainly. 

An  index  book  hangs  beside  this  case.  I  examined  this 
index  under  the  letter  H,  and  found  entries  like  this  : 

Harrison  Boiler  Works,  12. 

Hall,  Thomas,  24. 

Halteman,  A.  K.,  &  Co.,  6. 

Hammers,  Steam,  44. 

Hangers,  etc.,  31. 

Head  Blocks,  16. 

Heaters,  29. 

Holly  Manufacturing  Co.,  16. 

Horse  Powers,  46. 

Hoisting  Engines,  24. 

Hoisting  Machinery,  24. 

Hydrants,  8. 

I  saw  at  once  that  firm  names  and  general  classes  of 
goods  were  entered,  so  that  a  thing  could  certainly  be  found 
under  some  head.  I  also  noticed  that  there  was  no  at- 
tempt to  classify  the  different  catalogues.  They  were  all 
simply  put  somewhere,  and  a  record  made  so  they  could 
be  found.  I  liked  this  negative  feature,  because  it  showed 
a  disposition  not  to  undertake  so  much  as  to  deter  the  un- 
dertaking altogether.  One  little  defect  rendered  this  whole 
thing  valueless.  I  wanted  J.  A.  Fay  &  Co.'s  catalogue, 
and  looking  in  the  index  under  F,  I  found  Fay,  J.  A.  & 
Co.,  32.  I  looked  all  through  drawer  number  32,  but 
couldn't  find  a  sign  of  J.  A.  Fay  &  Co.  I  called  on  Ben- 
nett for  help.  He  repeated  the  process,  and  then  com- 
menced to  go  for  the  unknown  party  who  had  put  that 


366  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAl/S    LETTERS. 

thing  in  the  wrong  drawer.  A  general  search  among  nu- 
merous drawers  developed  the  catalogue.  There  was  no 
number  on  it  to  show  which  drawer  it  belonged  in,  and 
memory  had  failed  the  party  last  using  the  catalogue. 

I  mentioned  the  hardware  youth's  plan  of  numbering 
each  circular  so  as  to  show  where  each  one  belonged,  and 
Bennett  at  once  set  a  boy  at  work  to  straighten  every 
drawer  by  the  index,  and  to  mark  the  drawer  number  on 
every  separate  scrap  therein.  I  have  no  doubt,  should  I 
call  on  Mr.  Bennett  now,  that  before  proceeding  to 
business  he  would  first  index  me  under  my  appropriate 
number  and  shove  me  into  a  pigeon-hole  marked  C. 

For  my  own  part  I  have  a  sort  of  literary 
pride  in  preserving  catalogues,  price  lists,  photographs,  etc., 
and  have  gone  to  a  trouble  and  expense  in  the  matter 
which  I  hardly  think  many  will  care  to  incur.  As  fast  as 
catalogues,  etc.,  accumulate  I  sort  them  into  uniform  sizes 
and  have  them  bound  in  volumes.  In  each  volume  I  put 
an  index,  which  refers  to  every  individual  article  of  subject 
or  person.  At  the  end  of  fifteen  volumes  I  have  a  general 
index  of  the  same  careful  construction.  In  looking  over 
one  of  these  indexes,  I  find  Slate's  taper-turning  arrange- 
ment referred  to  under  the  heads  :  Slate — Taper — Turn- 
ing— Lathe — Former,  and  Pratt  &  Whitney. 

*  *  *  *  Such  a  plan  as  this  is  a  marvelous  conven- 
ience, and  I  should  feel  helpless  without  it,  as  it  enables 
me  to  hunt  up  a  thing  belonging  to  no  special  class  of 
goods,  and  not  known  to  be  in  any  particular  manufac- 
turer's list.  Thus  I  want  to  get  on  the  track  of  a  charcoal 
filter  for  sugar  works  ;  I  find  it  referred  to  as  being  in  the 
catalogue  of  a  concern  popularly  supposed  to  be  builders 
of  woolen  machinery  exclusively.  Nothing  but  such  a 
specific  index  as  I  refer  to  could  ever  unearth  the  thing — > 
a  search  through  a  ton  of  catalogues  being  altogether  out 
of  the  question. 

The  indexing  must  be  done  thoroughly  or  it  is  not  worth 


Bennett's  office— indexing   Chordal  under    his  proper  number,   and 
shoving  him  into  a  pigeon-hole  marked  C. — Page  366. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  369 

having.  Reference  must  be  made  under  every  possible 
name  a  thing  may  have.  A  man  may  want  a  "  Monte  Jus," 
without  knowing  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  Monte  Jus.  In 
the  index  spoken  of  I  find  it  referred  to  under  Monte  Jus 
— Pressure  Pump — Sugar — Beet  Sugar — Distilling,  etc., 
etc. 

*  *  *  *  It  seems  to  me  that  simply  numbering  the 
article,  let  it  be  book  or  sheet  or  card,  and  putting  it 
into  a  numbered  drawer,  or  filing  case  with  one  index,  is 
about  as  convenient  and  accessible  a  plan  as  need  be  fol- 
lowed in  most  shops,  and  its  expense  is  practically  nothing. 
It  also  permits  of  a  periodical  weeding  out  of  obsolete 
price  lists,  etc. 


37°       EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL'S  LETTERS. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

ALTERING  THE  FORM  OF  A  MECHANICAL  PRODUCT  TO  SUIT  CUSTOM- 
ERS.  SOME  OPINIONS  AND  EXPERIENCES. HOW  THE  PUBLIC 

SCHOOL  PRINCIPALS    LIKED    THE    INK. HOW  MACHINE-SHOP 

PRINCIPALS  MAY  TAKE  A  HINT. 

*  *     *     *     jn  one  o£  my  veiy  earliest  letters  to  you,  I 
referred  to  the  question  of  altering  the  form  of  a  product 
to  please  the  present  customer.     I  gave  the  views  of  the 
leaders  of  two  classes,  Mr.  Sackett  and  Mr.  Wyckoff.    Mr. 
Wyckoff  said  he  would  do  anything  a  customer  wanted 
him  to,  and  that  he  did  not   care  whether  the  want  was 
right   or   wrong.     Mr.   Sackett   said   he  would   make   no 
changes,  except  such  as  would  add  permanently  to  the 
value  of  things.     He  would  lose  a  sale  before  he  would 
gratify  the  unwise  whim  of  a  customer. 

*  *     *     *     Later  experiences  of  my  own  have  caused 
me  to  often  think  of  my  interviews  with  Wyckoff  and  Sack- 
ett.     I  have  talked  with  and  gathered  the  opinions  of 
others  on  this  subject,  and  I  feel  that  I  am  doing  a  service 
in  presenting  to  you  the  various  views  of  various  men. 

*  *     *     *     Mr.  G was  many  years  ago  a  leading 

manufacturer  ;   I  need  not  say  of  what.     He  is  now  on  the 
dwindle.     In  a  conversation  with  me  lately,  he  expressed 
himself  about  as  follows  :  "  When  I  was  in  good  business 
I  seldom  looked  around  for  causes.     I  exerted  myself  ; 
the  people  bought  my  product  ;  it  satisfied  them,  and  I 
made  money.     Young  competitors  sprang  up  around  me, 
and  my  business  began  to  fall  off.     Then  I  began  to  look 
into  the  science  of  the  thing.     I  compared  the  products 
with  a  just  judgment,  and  saw  no  merit  in  the  competing 
articles  superior  to  my  own.     Still,  the  articles  were  driving 
me  from  the  market.     I  compared  business  processes,  and 
found  that  my  own  exertions,  under  the  decline,  were  far 
more  energetic  than  those  of  my  competitors,  whose  trade 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAI/S  LETTERS.       37* 

seemed  almost  to  seek  them.  I  then  did  what  few  men  of 
my  age  and  experience  would  do.  I  sought  the  advice  of 
younger  men.  I  got  it  in  the  opinion  that  my  competitors 
made  what  the  people  wanted.  I  decided  to  do  likewise. 
I  investigated  the  form  of  competing  products,  and  found 
that  with  unchanged  functions  they  had  been  given  mere- 
tricious shapes  of  novelty.  I  further  found  that  the  shapes, 
etc.,  were  originated  without  an  express  demand  from  the 
market,  and  that  the  market  welcomed  the  pleasing  changes. 
All  I  had  to  do  was  to  anticipate  the  wants  of  the  people, 
and  design  my  product  accordingly.  That  was  all.  I  soon 
found,  however,  that  I  could  not  take  the  first  step  in  that 
direction.  It  required  a  genius  of  prophecy  and  perception 
far  less  attainable  to  my  mind  than  the  spirit  of  useful  in- 
vention. I  might  add  to  the  position,  utility,  or  capacity, 
or  convenience  of  a  thing  ;  but  to  deliberately  entertain  the 
idea  of  an  Eastlake  wheelbarrow,  or  a  hand-painted  crow- 
bar was  beyond  my  ability.  I  cleaned  out  my  old  corps  of 
talent,  and  substituted  men  of  the  new  school — prophets, 
artists,  inventors,  gods  of  taste  and  genius. 

"  They  produced  forms  of  seductive  grace  and  wondrous 
suitability.  I  found  that  qualities  which  I  had  considered 
meretricious  were  qualities  of  real  merit. 

"  What  I  had  called  a  fancy,  trifling,  weak  thing,  proved 
under  my  own  tests  to  be  the  clumsy  thing  of  old,  properly 
proportioned,  and  better  suited  for  its  strains.  The  wheel- 
barrow was  half  as  heavy  and  cost  half  as  much  as  the  old 
one,  but  it  ran  twice  as  easily,  held  twice  as  much,  was  twice 
as  strong,  and  a  thousand  times  as  handsome.  The  crowbar 
had  what  looked  like  artistic  swells  and  tapers,  but  which 
I  found  to  be  simply  a  scientific  leaving  off  of  metal  where 
not  needed.  The  things  had  really  been  too  pretty  to 
look  useful  to  an  old  man  like  me. 

"  I  now  had  my  samples  of  things  which  my  young  ad- 
visers told  me  would  sell,  but  I  could  not  make  them.  My 
outfit,  though  very  extensive  and  complete,  was  old  style, 


372  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL'S    LETTERS. 

and  unsuited  to  the  modern  work.  My  chief  men  in  the 
shops  were  of  my  own  unmodern  stamp,  and  not  adaptable 
to  the  new  way,  and,  above  all,  there  was  within  me  the 
feeling  of  inability  to  properly  direct  a  business  so  much 
at  variance  with  the  past  business  of  my  life. 

"  Evidently  my  proper  course  was  to  abdicate  in  favor  of 
a  salaried  manager  of  the  modern  type,  and  give  him  power 
to  alter  the  plant  and  get  new  men.  I  am  getting  old  now. 
I  am  rich.  Life  has  few  rough  corners  for  me,  and  but 
few  ambitions.  Commercial  ambition  was  the  only  promp- 
ter of  what  I  have  done  in  the  matter  so  far,  and  when  I 
see  that  before  these  promptings  all  the  old  men,  who  have 
been  my  lieutenants  for  years  and  years,  must  enter  a  new 
apprenticeship,  and  find  themselves  ignorant  children  or 
sour  old  men,  as  the  case  may  be,  I  think  seriously  of  quit- 
ting altogether,  and  throwing  the  onus  of  the  change  upon 
some  one  else.  Either  this  or  let  the  thing  run  back  in  its 
old  channel.  This  will  lead  to  a  downward  course,  while 
if  I  quit,  and  quit  soon  enough,  I  can  say  I  was  one  of  the 
most  useful  and  successful  in  my  line." 

*  *  *  *  So  much  for  old  Mr.  G ,  who  never  sees 

his  customers.  He  sells  to  the  trade.  Mr.  W builds 

something  larger,  and  sees  most  of  his  customers.  Here  is 
what  he  says  :  "  I  always  change  when  ordered  and  paid 
for  it,  except  where  I  see  that  the  change  would  do  damage 
to  my  standing  as  a  manufacturer.  I  didn't  use  to  do  it 
at  all  ;  and  now  I  do  it  all  the  time  with  everything.  It  is 
having  a  bad  effect  on  me  and  my  business.  The  form  of 
my  product  becomes  uncertain  and  unrecognizable.  If  I 
send  out  a  certain  thing  in  good  form  and  am  praised  for 
it,  I  immediately  offset  the  matter  by  showing  a  defective 
shape  in  the  next  shipment.  I  find  that  my  *  standing  of 
product '  account  is  generally  on  a  balance  with  an  ever- 
present  tendency  to  run  behind.  I  consider  this  such  an 
important  asset  that  the  matter  worries  me.  I  think  it  bet- 
ter to  sacrifice  present  profit  to  permanent  future  reputa- 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS.  373 

tion  for  merit,  than  to  sacrifice  the  immense  future  for  the 
present  profit.  Still,  I  don't  do  what  I  think  best.  The  effect 
of  "the  erratic-production  system  on  my  own  personality  is 
bothering  me  also.  Some  years  ago  I  had  my  business  in 
my  own  hand.  I  was  a  king  among  my  patrons.  On  my 
judgment  and  knowledge  of  what  the  majority  needed  my 
patrons  depended  ;  and  in  this  position  I  had  my  own 
pride  and  reliance.  As  it  is  now,  I  yield  to  every  wind 
that  brings  a  sale.  Instead  of  a  king,  I  am  the  creature  of 
my  customer,  who  uses,  not  my  judgment,  but  my  ability  to 
execute  his  will.  I  have  begun  to  look  upon  myself  as  a 
mere  moneyed  workman.  I  no  longer  read  up  on  things  ; 
I  no  longer  contrive  ;  I  no  longer  look  into  requirements  ; 
I  idly  wait  for  instructions." 

Mr.  Morgan  is  still  another  kind.  He 
builds  big  machines  originated  on  his  premises.  Said  he  : 
"  There  never  was  a  step  taken  in  my  line  which  I  did  not 
inaugurate  myself.  For  years  the  trivial  whims  of  cus- 
tomers had  no  effect  on  me  ;  but  finally,  not  from  principle 
or  policy,  but  from  pure  laziness,  I  began  to  doctor  my 
machines  at  the  suggestion  of  every  buyer.  I  have  never 
looked  into  the  philosophy  or  policy  or  result  of  the  thing, 
but  I  know  it  to  be  an  infernal  nuisance.  Of  two  customers 
for  a  machine  for  exactly  the  same  purpose,  one  will  want 
something  made  larger  so  it  will  be  better,  and  the  other 
man  will  want  the  same  part  made  smaller  so  it  will  be 
better.  That's  the  way  the  thing  goes.  Of  course  I  know 
better  than  any  one  customer,  or  any  half-dozen  of  them, 
what  is  correct.  It  is  my  business  to  know.  I  sometimes, 
on  my  own  account,. sacrifice  a  thing  which  I  know  to  be 
superior,  for  a  thing  which  I  know  will  give  most  universal 
satisfaction  to  the  crotchets  of  buyers.  The  changes  some- 
times ordered  in  my  machines  are  annoying  and  ex- 
asperating. That  is  what  a  man  gets  for  being  in  the 
machine  business  anyhow.  If  I  was  to  choose  a  new 
business  I  would  make  molasses,  or  something  which 


,574 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS. 


customers  would  not  ask  to  have  changed  in  form  every 
day." 

*  *  *  *  I  find  on  my  desk  an  advertising  circular 
from  a  certain  manufacturer  of  ink  in  New  York.  The 
circular  will  do  Mr.  Morgan  a  service,  and  will  also  illus- 
trate a  valuable  and  rare  feature  in  advertising.  The  cir- 
cular says  : 

"  To  175  Public  School  Principals  of  New  York  we  sent 
circular  inquiries  regarding  our  ink,  as  follows : 

Do  you  use  it  ?     Do  you  like  it  ? 

We  summarize  the  answers  as  follows  : 

22  Use  it;  like  it  exceedingly. 

92  Us.e  it ;  like  it. 

1 8  Use  it,  and  use  no  other. 

12  Will  order  it. 
4  Use  it,  but  think  it  a  little  too  thick. 

1  Uses  it,  but  thinks  it  a  little  too  thin. 

2  Use  it ;  best  ever  used. 
4  Don't  like  it. 

2  Say  it  is  too  black. 
6  Say  it  is  too  pale. 

3  Went  back  to  Davids', 
i   Likes  Davids'  color. 

3  Not  satisfied  ;  will  try  it  again." 


Eastlake  Wheelbarrow. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHORDAL's  LETTERS.        375 


CHAPTER   XLIII. 

PERSONAL    HISTORY    OF    A    YOUNG    MACHINIST. 

*  *     *     *     A  young  machinist  named  John  stepped 
from  a  train  in  a  large  city.     He  went  to  a  hotel,  cleaned 
the  travel  dust  off,  had  a  good  breakfast,  and  started  out 
upon  what  he  considered  the  most  important  expedition  of 
his  life.     He  proposed  to  see  the  inside  of  some  extensive 
machine  shops. 

*  *     *     *     This  man  John  was  a  quick-witted  fellow, 
son  of  a  country  banker,  the  graduate  of  a  two-cent  ma- 
chine  shop.     This  shop  and  his  home  were  located  far 
from  navigable  water  and  rail.      He  had  worked  five  years 
at  his  trade  ;  and  had  stuffed  himself  with  things  from  the 
books,  and  with  ambitions  natural  to  an  active  mechanical 
mind.     Up  to  the  time   that  we  speak  of  he  had  never 
seen  but  five  machinists.      He  never  saw  but  one  planer, 
three  or  four  lathes,  one  drill  press,  and  he  had  never  seen 
a  twist  drill.     Until  he  was  well  started  on  his  long  trip 
he  had  never  seen  a  locomotive.     He  had  not  yet  seen  a 
steamboat,  nor  a  broad  river  by  daylight,  nor  any  form  of 
steam  engine,  except  simple  horizontal  ones,  and  the  loco- 
motive lately  revealed  to  him. 

This  young  fellow  was  bursting  with  inexperience.  He 
had  good  sense  and  was  as  sharp  as  tacks.  He  had  been 
palpitating  for  years  with  the  thought  of  some  day  seeing 
things.  Now  the  day  had  come;  here  was  a  large  city 
full  of  everything  pertaining  to  industry,  and  all  those 
things  on  the  most  extensive  scale.  A  circle  of  a  day's 
journey  would  encompass  every  ambitious  view.  A  mighty 
river  rolled  past  the  city  and  could  show  every  type  of  in- 
land steam  craft.  Only  fifty  miles  to  the  ocean,  with  its 
massive  vessels  of  sail  and  steam.  Only  one  hundred  miles 
to  an  immense  locomotive-building  establishment.  There 
was  a  large  machine-tool-building-shop  in  the  city.  There 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

was  immense  water-works  machinery,  and  a  rolling  mill, 
and  nail  works,  and  fabric  mills,  and  shoe  factories — such 
thing?,  world  without  end  ! 

This  young  man  proposed  to  go  and  work  at  his  trade, 
if  such  an  ignoramus  as  he  could  get  work,  but  he  pro- 
posed to  see  something  first.  He  knew  not  where  to  begin. 
He  began  to  doubt  his  pleasures,  as  they  seemed  within 
reach.  He  had  seen  a  locomotive,  and  had  been  disap- 
pointed, because  it  did  not  astonish  him ;  it  was  exactly 
what  he  had  expected,  and  nothing  more.  What  would 
the  other  things  be  ? 

*  *  *  *  He  visits  the  water  works,  and  sees  one 
of  the  most  gigantic  beam  engines  in  the  world.  He  is 
not  a  bit  surprised  at  the  size  of  the  engine,  but  his  breath 
is  taken  away  at  the  size  of  the  machine  work.  The  books 
which  had  familiarized  him  with  monstrous  engines  had 
never,  for  some  reason,  led  him  to  think  of  the  massive 
jobs  of  which  such  engines  are  composed.  Here  were 
connecting  rods  which  would  weigh  as  much  as  any  lathe 
he  had  ever  seen.  Here  was  a  cylinder  near  ten-foot 
bore,  with  cylinder  heads,  etc.,  to  match.  Up  there  was  a 
walking-beam,  and  John  could  not  bring  himself  to  believe 
that  all  the  cast  iron  which  he  had  ever  seen  in  his  life,  if 
put  together,  would  make  this  beam.  Here  was  a  shaft 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  John  never  dreamed  that 
bar  iron  was  made  over  four  inches.  What  an  immense 
thing  a  rolling  mill  must  be  !  And  what  immense  lathes 
and  planers  they  must  have  to  do  such  work  ! 

Then  he  tried  to  imagine  the  lathe  that  had  turned  these 
thirty-foot  fly-wheels.  In  his  mind,  he  sees  the  lathe  bed 
on  legs,  with  a  pile  of  chips  under  it ;  with  its  head-stock 
and  tail-stock,  and  carriage,  and  tool  post,  and  cone,  and 
back  gears,  and  change  gears,  and  brass  plate  on  the  head- 
stock  to  tell  what  gears  to  use,  and  a  belt  shifter  over  the 
lathe,  and  a  board  on  the  lathe  with  tools  on  it.  And  then 
he  thinks  of  the  three  feet  from  the  floor  to  the  top  of  the 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  377 

lathe  bed,  and  of  the  fifteen  feet  from  the  top  of  the  lathe 
bed  to  the  centers — eighteen  feet  in  all  ;  and  then  he 
thinks  of  the  little  latheman  only  six  feet  long.  How  in 
the  world  does  he  work  it  ?  Does  he  use  a  ladder  to  look 
at  the  tool  ? 

John  examines  the  engine  critically,  but  sees  no  work- 
manship to  puzzle  him  ;  he  sees  nothing  which  he  has  not 
done  himself  on  a  very  small  scale.  He  understands  the 
engine  perfectly,  for  he  knows  the  books  by  heart. 

*  *  *  *  John  visits  a  big  marine  shop — the  very 
shop,  in  fact,  that  built  the  big  engine  he  saw  at  the  water- 
works. The  first  thing  he  notices  is  that  this  high-toned 
shop  is  a  very  much  worse  shop  than  the  one  he  was 
brought  up  in,  and  that  the  only  apparent  difference  is 
that  this  one  is  about  five  thousand  times  as  big.  He  rec- 
ognizes the  floor,  with  its  multitudinous  heaps  of  scrap, 
finished  work  and  litter. 

He  recognizes  the  dirty  vise  benches,  the  dirty  walls, 
the  rickety  trestles,  the  odd  blocks,  and  the  greasy,  blue 
workmen.  He  finds  a  big  planer,  and  it  is  a  huge  one, 
twelve  feet  between  housings.  "  But  what  makes  this  big 
planer  look  so  small  ? "  He  ponders  and  scrutinizes,  and 
finally  discovers  that  it  is  the  shortness  of  the  planer  which 
so  affects  its  dignity.  He  thinks  of  the  little  two-foot 
planer  at  home,  and  expected  to  see  here  the  same  propor- 
tions on  a  grander  scale.  It  seems  to  him  this  big  planer 
is  no  longer  than  the  little  one.  The  big  planer,  in  fact, 
planes  thirty  feet  long — as  long  as  six  of  his  little  planers  ; 
but  this  thirty  feet,  when  compared  with  the  twelve  feet 
between  the  housings,  seems  to  be  nothing  at  all.  The 
thing  seems  to  be  the  longest  the  short  way.  He  sees  that 
it  is  all  right,  but  is  fearfully  disappointed.  For  years  he 
has  been  hoping  to  see  a  big  planer,  but  he  never  hoped  to 
see  it  look  like  that.  He  finally  comes  to  the  big  lathe  at 
work  on  a  fly-wheel  like  the  ones  he  saw  at  the  water  works. 
"  Great  guns  !  is  this  a  lathe  ?  " 


37$  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

A  hole  in  the  ground,  stone  walls,  a  few  odd  reckless 
pieces  of  casting,  and  a  belt  !  "  How  have  the  mighty 
fallen  !  "  The  man  doesn't  need  a  ladder,  unless  it  is  to  get 
down  in  a  pit.  He  sees  many  kinds  of  machines,  but  noth- 
ing to  surprise  him,  nothing  to  please.  He  sees  no  twist 
drills.  Between  the  two  shops  he  would  rather  have  the 
little  one  at  home,  which  strikes  him  as  being  more  com- 
plete for  its  work.  He  looks  among  the  men,  but  sees  few 
faces  to  make  him  proud  of  his  trade. 

*  *     *     *     He  goes  to  another  shop  and  walks  in.    He 
hears  the  foreman  talking    "  Dutch,  "and  it  makes  him  sick 
and  he  walks  right  out,     He  goes   to   another  shop,  and 
here  he  finds  a  boring  mill  which  he  studies  on  for  some 
time.     Then  he  sees  a  man  using  a  twist  drill,  and  his 
spirits  drop  at  the  complete  fulfillment  of  his  hope.     He 
inspects  the  river  craft  and   thinks  the   machinery  more 
slouchy   than    saw-mill  work.      He  goes  out  to  the  loco- 
motive town,  but  fails  to  discover  anything  new.     He  goes 
to  the  ocean  and  sees  the  heaviest  marine  work.     What 
most  surprises  and  pleases  him  is  the  consummate  skill  with 
which  the  traps  have  been  gotten  into  the  cramped  spaces. 

*  *     *     *     As  in  years  gone  by,  our  young  man,  John, 
again  trembles  before  the  door  of  a  machine  shop.     He  is 
going  to  ask  for  employment.     He  has  never  done  so  be- 
fore and  doesn't  know  how.     If  he  was  an  old  stager  he 
would  hunt  up  the  foreman  and  say,  "  What's  the   chance 
for  a  job  to-day  ?  "     But  he  is  not  an  old  stager  and  never 
heard  that  expression  in  his  life. 

He  goes  to  the  office  and  asks  for  the  owner  of  the  shop. 
The  president  of  the  company  is  pointed  out  to  him,  and 
he  quickly  introduces  himself  to  him  by  name.  He  gives 
the  president  his  history  ;  tells  him  of  the  little  shop  out 
home  ;  of  his  experience  ;  of  his  vast  ignorance  ;  and  con- 
cludes by  asking  him  if  he  can  go  to  work  in  the  shop  on 
any  sort  of  terms  which  will  enable  him  to  learn  something. 
The  president  picks  his  teeth  and  says  in  a  decent  sort  of 


He  hears  the  foreman    talking   "Dutch"   and  it  makes  him  sick. 
Page  378. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  36 1 

a  way,  "  I  think  we  need  some  men  out  in  the  shop,  but  we 
want  good  men,  and  I  don't  see  what  use  you  can  be  to  us 
just  now,  as  we  can  get  plenty  of  learners.  You  would  be 
the  same  to  us  as  -an  apprentice,  exactly  ;  but  still  I  will 
turn  you  over  to  the  foreman  and  you  can  see  what  can  be 
done." 

*  *     *     *     The  foreman  gave  him  less  hope  than  the 
president  ;  the  shop  was  full  of  boys,  and  he  wanted  men. 
John  went  and  looked  around  the  shop  some  and  examined 
the  operation  of  things  closely.     A  new  idea  struck  him, 
based  on  what  he  had  seen  of  the  shop.     He  went  to  the 
foreman  and  wanted  to  hire  out  as  a  first-class  man.     He 
took  the  old  man's  breath  away,  and  the  matter  finally 
ended  in  his  being  set  to  work.     He  was  to  receive  the 
best  of  pay  if  he  did  the  best  of  work. 

*  *     *     *     At  the  end  of  the  week  he  found  his  wages 
set  at  $2.25  per  day.     This  disgusted  him. 

*  *     *     *     Monday  he  devoted  to  business,  and  learned 
a  great  deal  more  of  the  machine  business  than  he  thought 
there  was  in  it.     He  called  at  the  office  of  the  president  of 
the  company  and  was  well  received,  and  asked  to  state  his 
business.     He  opened  as  follows  :  "  I  would  like  to  ask 
why  you  don't  pay  better  wages  ? " 

"  Young  man,"  said  the  president,  "  if  you  think  we  set 
these  wages  you  are  mistaken.  The  machinist  fixes  his 
own  wages  at  such  a  figure  that  other  machinists  will  not 
out-bid  him.  Those  wages  we  have  to  pay.  When  a  man 
asks  us  what  we  are  paying,  we  simply  give  the  figure  which 
our  men  are  charging  us.  If  you  were  in  search  of  work, 
and  I  should  tell  you  that  we  were  paying  a  certain  man  $4 
per  day,  you  would  agree  to  take  that  man's  place  at  $3 
per  day,  if  $3  seemed  high  enough  to  you  ;  is  that  true  or 
not  ? " 

"  Of  course  it  is,"  said  John,  "  but  what  will  keep  the 
next  applicant  from  under-bidding  me  ;  and  so  on,  and  so 
on,  till  the  wages  were  10  cents  a  day  ? " 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

"The  result  of  such  a  course,"  said  the  president, 
"  would  be,  that  the  lower  the  wages  got  the  less  men 
would  care  for  the  places,  and  as  a  consequence,  few  new 
men  would  enter  the  uninviting  trade.  Men  want  the 
places  were  the  wages  are  desirable,  and  as  a  consequence 
the  under-bidding  always  ceases  when  undesirable  figures 
are  reached.  If  I  should  allow  men  to  set  their  own  prices, 
they  would  always  set  them  a  few  cents  below  what  other 
men  are  getting,  so  as  to  get  a  place.  Every  man  in  search 
of  a  place  is  auctioneering  wages  downward.  If  employers 
would  listen  to  these  bids  the  trade  would  soon  invite  no 
smart  learners  into  it,  arid  soon  we  could  get  no  good  men 
at  all. 

"The  policy  of  the  employers  is  to  protect  the  trade 
against  destructive  cutting  by  the  workmen.  It  makes  no 
difference  to  me  how  high  the  wages  in  my  shop  are  so 
long  as  the  other  shops  have  to  pay  the  same.  That  new 
engine  now  being  built  I  contracted  to  deliver  for  $2,000, 
and  there  were  over  twenty  shops  bidding  on  the  job.  If 
I  had  been  paying  my  men  $5  per  day,  some  other  shop 
paying  only  $2  would  have  got  the  job,  and  so  with  every 
job  on  which  we  would  bid,  until,  finally,  of  course,  I 
would  have  to  shut  up  the  shop,  and  my  men  would  have 
to  seek  work  in  the  $2  shops,  and  in  order  to  get  places 
they  would  bid  slightly  under  $2.  In  this  way  you  will 
see  that  high  wages  in  one  shop  will  finally  reduce  the 
wages  all  over.  If  all  the  shops  had  been  paying  $5  this 
could  not  happen,  because  all  the  bids  on  the  engine 
would  be  based  on  the  same  cost  of  machine  work.  It  is 
not  high  wages  which  does  the  harm  in  this  way,  but  it  is  a 
difference  in  wages  which  plays  the  deuce.  Every  shop 
makes  the  most  money  during  the  time  they  can  keep  the 
men  at  work  at  the  highest  wages  ;  this  has  never  failed 
to  be  true  since  the  trade  was  started.  You  had  better 
cut  that  out  and  paste  it  in  your  hat." 

"Then  tell  me,"  said  John,  "why  in  the  world  can't 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S   LETTERS.  3$3 

some  arrangement  be  made  by  which  machinists  all  over 
the  country  can  get  high  wages  and  keep  getting  them  with- 
out any  bother  at  all  ?  This  would  pay  the  machinists 
better,  and  you  say  the  shops  would  make  more  money." 

"  Well,"  said  the  president,  "  I  wish  that  could  be  ;  but 
it  cannot.  You  will  see  that  low  wages  would  chase  learn- 
ers out  of  the  trade  and  bidders  would  become  scarce,  and 
in  a  like  manner,  high  wages  would  bring  learners  into  the 
trade,  and  the  surplus  number  of  bidders  would  auction 
wages  down  and  spoil  the  whole  thing.  Another  thing  is 
this  :  That  engine  you  worked  on  we  now  sell  for  $800, 
and  we  have  a  good  trade  in  them.  I  have  sold  over  500 
of  those  engines  at  that  price,  and  as  you  see  we  keep 
about  30  men  working  on  them  all  the  time.  Lots  of  men 
can  afford  to  buy  these  engines  and  so  there  is  plenty  to 
do  on  them.  Ten  years  ago  we  never  dreamed  of  selling 
one  of  these  engines  for  less  than  $1,200,  and  at  that  figure 
I  never  succeeded  in  selling  more  than  a  dozen  of  them 
altogether.  Few  people  can  afford  to  buy  such  expensive 
engines,  and  our  30  men  would  soon  have  had  to  go  fish- 
ing. Instead  of  going  fishing  and  getting  no  wages  they 
work  for  less  wages  and  cut  the  price  of  the  engines  way 
down,  and  now,  behold,  every  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry 
wants  one  of  those  engines,  and  I  have  no  doubt  but  that 
these  30  men  will  be  building  these  engines  ten  years  from 
now.  Let  me  double  their  wages,  and  thus  double  the 
price  of  the  engine,  and  very  soon  nobody  could  afford  to 
buy  these  engines,  and  we  would  all  have  to  quit  business. 
I  give  you  this  merely  as  an  example,  but  it  will  hold  good 
for  everything  made  in  machine  shops.  What  would  the 
farmers  do  if  the  machinists  who  build  their  reapers  should 
charge  $5  a  day  for  building  them  ?  " 

"  It  is  easy  to  tell,"  said  John  ;  "  they  would  have  to  cut 
their  grain  by  hand." 

"  Well,"  said  the  president,  "  do  you  know  how  many 
hands  are  now  employed  on  reapers  ? " 


34  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS. 

"  I  should  judge,"  said  John,  "  from  what  I  have  read 
of  the  reaper  business  that  there  must  by  five  or  six  thou- 
sand men  at  it."  (This  was  many  years  ago.) 

"Now,"  said  the  president,  "  do  you  know  of  any 
shorter  way  for  those  five  thousand  men  to  kill  their  busi- 
ness of  reaper  building  than  simply  to  raise  their  price  ?  " 

"  I  don't  see  any  other  way,"  said  John,  "  by  which  they 
can  kill  it  at  all." 

*  *     *     *  ic  NOW,"  said  the  president,  "  I  have  given 
you  the  views  of  a  man   who  has   worked  30  years  in  the 
shop,  and  I  ask  you  these  questions  :  First,  what  will  keep 
wages  up  ?" 

"Why,"  said  John,  "lots  of  men  to  buy  machine  work 
and  very  few  workmen  to  underbid  on  doing  it." 

"  Second  question,"  said  the  president,  "  what  will  keep 
wages  down  ? " 

"  Why,"  said  John,  "  very  little  to  do  and  lots  ot  men 
wanting  to  do  it. " 

"  Next  question,"  said  the  president,  "at  what  point  do 
wages  stop  going  down  ?  " 

"  When  they  are  down  so  low  that  they  are  not  worth  the 
having  if  any  lower,"  said  John. 

"  Last  question,"  said  the  president,  "  where  is  the  de- 
sirable point  to  have  wages  stick  ?  " 

John  studied  awhile  and  finally  answered,  "  at  the  high- 
est point  at  which  purchasers  will  buy  all  of  the  work  that 
sill  of  the  men  will  do." 

*  *     *     *  It  was  fifteen  years  ago  that  I  met  John  as 
I  happened  to  be  working  in  this  same  shop.     I  lost  sight 
of  him  soon   after,  but  I  now  have  his  full  history  up  to 
date.     It  is  full  of  interest,  and  his  name  is  well  known. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL's    LETTERS.  385 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

DIFFERENT    KINDS    OF    FOREMEN. 

*  *     *     *     I    actually  believe   that  all  the   immense 
amount  of  rushing  work  now  being  done  is  done  by  fifty 
per  cent,  of   the   men  employed  on  the   work.      Certain 
elastic  workmen  feel  every  change  in  times.     When  things 
are  dull  and  but  few  hands  working,  the  special  ones  of 
the  few  will  do  less  in  a  given  time  than  the  balance. 
When  things  boom  and  the   shop  fills  up,  these  chaps  get 
enthusiastic  and  pitch  in  and  do  the  work,  and  they  keep 
doing  it.     Their  rise  in  spirits  is  the  only  thing  tending  to 
keep  up  the  average  performance. 

*  *     *     *     Priceless  is  the  enthusiastic  boss  who  can 
keep  his  hands  off  things.     The  temptation  to  take  a  dull- 
headed  man's  work  out  of  his  blundering  hands  is  a  strong 
one,  but  it  must  be  resisted,  or  the  boss  sinks  into  a  mere 
improver  of  a  single  blunderer's  work,  and  as  such  is  worth 
per  day  just  the  increase  effected  in  one  man's  work,  and 
no  more. 

*  *     *     *    John  Paul  was  a  foreman  in  a  machine  shop, 
and  had  charge  of   about  a  dozen  men.     Wherever  you 
would  find  this  foreman,  John  Paul,  you  would  find  a  ma- 
chinist standing  close  by  watching  John  Paul  do  the  work. 

John  Paul  was  a  splendid  workman  and  a  good  worker, 
but  he  did  not  know  how  to  pick  out  good  men,  or  how  to 
make  good  men  out  of  indifferent  ones. 

An  extra  heavy  job  had  to  go  into  a  lathe.  John  sends 
Jim,  a  laborer,  after  a  sixteen-foot  ladder.  In  comes  the 
end  of  the  ladder,  ubiquitously  hitting  everything  in  the 
shop,  followed  at  half  stroke  by  Jim,  the  clumsy,  who 
carries  it.  Why  should  not  Jim  be  as  able  as  any  one  to 
engineer  a  ladder  into  and  through  a  machine  shop  ?  He 
has  been  superintendent  of  that  ladder  for  months,  but  has 
never  been  able  to  improve  its  running  time.  John  Paul, 


386  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

with  an  impatient  mutter,  with  eye  and  mind  on  the  spot 
where  he  wants  the  top  of  the  ladder  to  go,  takes  two 
quick  strides,  snatches  the  ladder  from  Jim,  and,  with  one 
free,  perfect,  thoughtless  movement,  plants  it  exactly  in 
the  rght  place.  I  question  if  he  thought  of  the  process 
or  of  the  ladder.  He  saw  only  the  place  up  there.  There 
is  an  eyebolt,  close  up  to  the  flooring,  between  two  joists. 
He  tells  Sam,  the  big  lathesman,  to  go  up  the  ladder  with 
the  chain  block.  Sam  fusses  with  the  hook  and  strains 
himself,  works  clumsily  at  arm's  length,  and  runs  his 
tongue  out  of  the  corner  of  his  mouth,  blows  the  dust  out 
of  his  eyes,  and  wears  himself  out  and  gets  shaky.  John 
Paul  twitches  impatiently,  for  the  thing  is  tiring  him  as 
much  as  Sam.  He  calls  Sam  down,  takes  the  block  up 
the  ladder,  hooks  it  in  place  and  comes  down  again.  Why 
could  not  Sam  do  a  little  thing  like  that  as  well  as  John 
Paul  ?  Then  there's  a  sling  to  rig  up,  and  a  chuck  to  take 
off  at  the  eleventh  hour,  and  a  dog  to  get,  and  a  tail  stock 
to  set,  and  a  carriage  to  be  run  out  of  the  way,  and  a  tug 
on  the  chain,  and  a  steering  of  things,  and  an  oil  can  to 
get,  and  a  center  to  oil,  and  a  final  and  finishing  screwing 
up  of  the  center  when  the  job  is  in  place.  Who  does 
most  of  all  this  ?  The  six  men  standing  around  ?  John 
Paul  does  it. 

*  *     *     *     Do  the  men  shirk  ?     Not  a  bit  of  it.     They 
pester  John  Paul  by  their  abortive  willingness.     Then  why 
does  John  Paul  do  this  work  ?     Another  question  too  hard 
for  me. 

*  *     *     *     John  Paul's  brother-in-law,  Paul  Johnson, 
is  a  boss,  too,  and  works  fifty  men.     No  ladders,  or  blocks, 
or  chucks,  or  oil  cans  in  his  labor.     He  gives  his  orders, 
and  behold,  the  work  is  done  as  though  he  had  an  army 
composed  of  John  Pauls  working  for  him. 

John  Paul  can  only  push  one  thing  at  a  time.  Paul 
Johnson  waves  his  hand  and  a  dozen  ladders  move  to 
place,  a  dozen  chain  blocks  work  themselves  up,  chucks 


John  Paul  on  the  ladder.—  Page  386. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL/S    LETTERS.  389 

unscrew  themselves,  tail  stocks  retreat,  carriages  get  out 
of  the  way,  jobs  rise  into  place,  and  oil  cans  squirt.  What 
share  has  Paul  Johnson  in  these  things  going  on  all  around 
him  ?  What  magic  is  there  in  that  wave  of  his  hand  ? 
What  kind  of  clay  is  Paul  Johnson  made  of,  and  where 
was  the  error  in  mixing  it  when  John  Paul  was  made?  I 
give  it  up. 

*  *     *     *     John  Paul's  soul  was  in  a  constant  revolt 
against  awkwardness,  clumsiness,  ignorance  and  stupidity. 
He  appeased  his  revolted  soul  by  doing  the  work  himself 
with  active,  intelligent  dexterity.     What  will   become  of  a 
shop  full  of  men  while  a  too  nervous  foreman  is  appeasing 
a  revolted  soul  with  a  key  drift,  or  a  file,  or  a  lathe,  or  a 
hand  reamer,  or   a  pipe   die,   or  a  crowbar?     John   Paul 
never  seems  to  have  struck  on  any  successful  plan    for 
transferring  some  of  his  excellent  qualities  to  his  men.     He 
can  simply  substitute  his  own  excellent  labor  for  theirs. 

Considering  the  fact  that  John  Paul  will  do  about  five 
men's  work  without  knowing  it,  his  mode  of  operation  is 
not  so  very  bad  when  he  is  working  only  eight  or  ten  men. 
The  smart  men  do  their  own  work,  and  John  Paul  does 
the  work  of  the  dull  ones.  It  takes  just  so  much  pay  roll 
fo  get  so  much  work  done. 

*  *     *     *     But   with   fifty   men   is    John    Paul    long 
enough  to  reach  ?     Won't    there  be   more  pay  roll   than 
work  ?     With  Paul   Johnson  it   is   different.      Ten  men, 
forty  men,  a  hundred  men,  all  are  the  same  to  him,  except 
that  he  has  trouble  keeping  engaged  when  he  has  but  a 
few  men  to  attend  to.     Two  more  men  means  two  more 
days'  work  per  day  to   Paul  Johnson,  and  he  doesn't  do 
this  extra  work  himself  either.     I  wish  I  knew  how  he 
managed  it. 

*  *     *     *     Paul  Johnson  is  no  machinist  himself.     He 
don't  know  how  to  file  anything  flat,  but  he  knows  how  to 
get  flat  filing  done.     If  he  undertook  to  file  a  piece  of 
brass  he  would  not  know  what  was  the  matter  with  the 


39O       EXTRACTS  FRO..I  CHORDAL's  LETTERS. 

slippery  thing,  and  would  call  for  new  files  indefinitely. 
But  he  don't  undertake  to  file  brass.  If  he  should  screw 
up  a  pipe  joint  it  would  leak.  But  he  has  other  men  screw 
up  pipe  joints  and  there  must  be  no  leaks.  If  he  tried 
to  waltz  a  ladder  through  a  crowded  shop  the  ladder  would 
get  away  with  him.  If  he  should  attempt  to  reach  up  and 
hook  a  chain  block  in  place,  he  would  break  his  neck. 
But  there  is  no  danger.  He  is  not  a  member  of  the  hook 
and  ladder  company.  He  is  the  chief. 

Another  thing  Paul  Johnson  don't  do 
is  to  be  eternally  belittling  the  skill  of  his  men  by  going 
over  their  work.  He  may  test  the  work,  but  you  can't 
catch  him  at  it,  and  the  shop  turns  out  accurate  work. 

*  *  *  *  A  man  working  for  John  Paul  puts  a  line 
through  an  engine ;  along  comes  John  Paul  and  tests  the 
line  with  calipers.  The  man  puts  a  marked  stick  in  the 
crank  pin  ;  John  Paul  measures  the  stick.  The  man  rotates 
the  main  shaft  and  squares  it  by  the  line  ;  he  must  rotate  it 
some  more,  so  that  John  Paul  can  see  if  it  is  square. 

A  good  blacksmith  has  just  hardened  a  big  tap  ;  John 
Paul  will  sandpaper  it  ,and  draw  the  temper  properly.  A 
big  shaft  is  to  have  shoulders  turned  at  certain  spots  ;  John 
Paul  measures  and  prick-punches,  and  when  the  shoulders 
are  turned  he  measures  again  to  see  that  no  mistake  has 
been  made  by  the  lathesman.  A  shrinking  fit  is  to  be  made. 
This  is  John  Paul's  sole  prerogative  of  course.  John  Paul 
puts  on  the  big  belts  ;  John  Paul  cuts  and  laces  such  belts  ; 
John  Paul  has  the  biggest  crowbar  when  something  is  to 
be  pried,  and  he  has  the  heaviest  strain  when  there  is  a 
lift.  John  Paul's  mind  centers  on  the  thing  to  be  done 
and  neglects  all  else.  A'  heavy  job  is  to  be  shifted  under 
a  radial  drill ;  John  Paul  is  of  course  on  hand  as  one  of 
the  main  shifters.  With  intent  mind,  and  dexterous  bar, 
and  horizontal  back,  he  is  doing  the  work  of  the  entire 
gang,  to  the  total  neglect  of  his  minor  end,  which  the  re- 
volving twist  drill  delights  to  seize. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL  S    LETTERS.  39! 

Whatever  John  Paul  does,  he  does  properly.  He  does 
it  properly  because  he  is  honestly  anxious  to  see  it  properly 
done.  What  don't  he  do  ?  What  would  be  done  if  he 
didn't  do  it  ? 

Paul  Johnson  does  no  such  business  as  this,  and  tha 
work  is  all  done,  and  properly.  How  does  he  manage  it 
anyhow  ? 

*  *     *     *     £  £ew  weeks  ag0  i  stood  in  the  top  gallani 
crosstrees  of  a  big  beam  engine.     The  cylinder  head  wat 
to  come  off,  and  Hanlon,  the  chief  engineer,  had  sent  thre* 
men  up  to  do  the  work.     Hanlon  had  half  a  dozen  o) 
these  engines  under  his  charge,  and  plenty  of  men,  but  ho 
did  nine-tenths  of  the  work  done  around  the  engines.     He 
stood  by  me  as  his  men  unscrewed  at  the  thousand- and- 
one  nuts  which  held  the  cylinder  head  on.     The  work  pro- 
ceeded very  slowly,  as  things  were  hot,  positions  awkward, 
and  the  men  a  trifle  clumsy.     I  saw  Hanlon  was  itching  to 
go  at  it  himself,  but  by  idle  conversation  I  held  him  back 
till  about  ten  nuts  had  been  removed  by  the  three  men.     I 
turned  my  head  and  when  I  turned  it  back  again  Hanlon 
had  possession  of  the  field.     He  had  cleared  all  the  men 
away  except  one  to  follow  him  up  to  remove  the  loose 
nuts,  and  in  a  jiffy  was  done  with  the  job.     I  asked  him 
why  he  couldn't  keep  his  fingers  off,  and  he  said  "  It  hurts 
me  to  see  things  drag."     Even  so  with  John  Paul. 

*  *     *     *     One  bad  thing  about  John  Paul  and  Han- 
lon is,  that  by  degrees  their  men  become  untrustworthy 
and  absolutely  worthless  in  the  absence  of  their  chief. 

Certain  air  valves  of  Hanlon's  engines  are  articles  of 
consumption.  They  are  bound  to  give  out,  and  duplicates 
are  always  held.  Putting  new  ones  in  is  a  somewhat  tedi- 
ous, dirty  and  undesirable  job,  but  Hanlon  is  the  man  who 
always  does  the  job. 

I  looked  at  this  as  a  fault,  and  Hanlon  said,  "  I  have 
had  men  put  these  valves  in,  but  they  never  did  it  right. 
There  is  too  much  at  stake,  and  I  will  never  trust  a  man 


392  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAI/S    LETTERS. 

to  put  one  in  again  as  long  as  I  have  charge  of  these 
engines." 

*  *  *  *  I  asked  Hanlon  what  provision  he  had 
made  against  his  absence  by  sickness  or  otherwise.  He 
said  he  couldn't  get  sick.  Had  to  stay  and  tend  to  those 
valves,  or  fancied  he  did.  He  thought  it  might  be  a  fancy, 
but,  if  so,  it  was  a  very  troublesome  one.  Is  John  Paul  a 
man  of  mere  fancies  ?  If  he  is,  there  are  many  such. 
Do  not  let  me  be  understood  as  denying  the  potency  of  a 
master's  eye.  There  must  be  one  head  to  everything,  but 
if  that  head,  who  should  direct  the  general  policy  of  the 
business,  fritters  away  his  time  on  trivial  details,  the  great 
matters  of  the  concern  are  liable  to  be  overlooked  ;  the 
manager  is  worn  out,  and  the  men,  finding  they  are  not 
trusted,  become  indifferent  and  in  time  untrustworthy.  I 
know  of  a  large  establishment  where  the  proprietor  wished 
to  know  about  and  check  the  smallest  detail  of  his  busi- 
ness. He  is  a*lways  in  a  stew,  and  runs  from  one  thing  to 
another  and  yet  never  accomplishes  anything.  You  can't 
be  with  him  ten  minutes  but  you  feel  nervous  and  irritated. 
He  had  a  good  foreman,  one  capable  of  taking  all  this  mat- 
ter off  his  hands,  but  the  foreman  became  discouraged,  for 
he  could  not  give  any  instructions,  not  even  "jaw  an 
apprentice,"  but  the  proprietor  asked  for  an  explanation. 
The  result  was  that  another  firm  marked  the  foreman  as  a 
rising  man,  and  it  took  but  little  inducement  to  get  him 
away.  Since  he  left,  the  business  steadily  declined  ;  the 
proprietor  still  frets  and  worries  ;  he  has  grown  through  his 
hair  and  now  parts  it  in  the  middle  with  a  nice  coarse  towel. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    CMORDAL'S   LETTERS.  395 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

A    SHOP    WITH    SERVANTS    FOR    THE    WORKMEN. 

*  *     *     *     The  Niles  Tool  Works  had,  and  still  has, 
one  of  those  long  shops  running  the  whole  length  of  a  city 
block,  with  a  tool  room  located  in  the  center.     Probably 
no  better  form  of  shop  has  ever  been  devised,  but  the  form 
has  one  demerit.     The  men  and  the  foreman  and  the  la- 
borers have  to  walk  long  distances  in  the  ordinary  working 
of  things,  and  the  long  trips  to  the  tool  room  are  well  calcu- 
lated to  wear  the  average  machinist  out  in  the  leg  part, 
even  before  noon.     An  ordinary  machinist  doesn't  object 
to  walking  his  legs  off  going  to  and  from  the  machine  shop, 
where  he  makes  his  living  working  at  the  trade,  but  he  is 
justified  in  growling  at  a  ten-mile  tramp  between  meals. 

*  *     *     *     The  Niles  Works  have  lately  added  three 
new  shops  to  their  long  establishment,  and  the  result  is  that 
the  distances  have  increased,  and  the  tool  room  is  no  longer 
in  the  center.     It  is  an  easier  matter  to  build  machine  shops 
than  it  is  to  move  a  tool  room  to  the  spot  where  the  center 
of  gyration  will  be  supposed  to  exist.     In  the  shop  referred 
to  a  plan  has  been  inaugurated  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  is 
new  and  worthy  of  investigation.     They  have  put  in  an 
electric  call  system,  with  an  annunciator  at  the  tool  room, 
and  have  numbered  push  buttons  at  every  vise  and  ma- 
chine, and   scattered   around    generally.      Bell    boys   are 
stationed  at  the  tool-room  bar.     Tom,  Dick  or  Harry  wants 
a  drill,  or  a  reamer,  or  some  waste,  or  his  oil  can  filled. 
He  touches  his  button  and  a  boy  dances  up  to  him  for  in- 
structions.    These  boys  are  to  black  their  boots  and  keep 
their  faces  clean,  and  sleeves  rolled  down.     They  are  not 
apprentices,  nor  cubs,  nor  laborers.     They  are  the  servants 
of  the  workmen.     This  arrangement  is  not  yet  completed, 
but  will  be  in  a  week  or  two,  and  I  will  make  inquiries  and 
post  you  as  to  its  workings. 


396  EXTRACTS    FROM    CHORDAL*S    LETTERS. 

*  If  I,  in  my  days,  had   been  lucky  enough 
to  find  myself  working  in  a  shop  with  a  slave  of  the  ring  to 
answer  the  bell,  I   should  certainly  have   insisted  on  the 
thing's  being  done  up  brown  with  a  man  at  the  grindstone 
to  do  the  heavy  sharpening. 

*  At  one  time  I  dumped  all  the  fancy  tools 
out  of  my  tool  box,  and  provided  myself  with  a  tip-top  set 
of  lathe  tools.     This  was  to  prevent  borrowing.     I  always 
hated  a  grindstone,  and  it  finally  occurred  to  me  that,  if  I 
had  a  double  set  of  tools,  I  would  be  happier.     I  doubled 
up  and  then  had  a  pair  of  side  tools,  a  pair  of  diamond 
points,  three  or  four  cutting-off  tools,  a  patent  screw-cut- 
ting tool  with  removable  cutters,  and  two  pairs  of  broad, 
square-ended   tools.      These  latter  were  always  favorites 
with  me,  as  I  could  use  them  for  almost  anything,  especially 
for  all  chuck  work.      I  never  found   anything  so  good  for 
boring  out  big  work,  like  packing  rings,   etc.,   and   they 
could  be  used  for  all  manner  of  big  turning  and  facing. 
But  the  double  set  of  tools  didn't  help  me  any  on  the  grind- 
ing question.     I  got  to  putting  off  the  operation  of  grind- 
ing till  everything  got  dull,  and  then  I  had  to  go  and  stay 
by   the   grindstone   till  meal  time.     I   always  preferred  a 
lathe  to  a  grindstone,  and  my  objections  to  having  my  lathe 
stand  still  an  hour  or  two  were  not  entirely  disinterested  on 
my  part. 

No  one  ever  offered  to  grind  any  tools  for  me,  and  no 
boy  ever  came  around  to  see  if  I  didn't  want  something 
done. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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